{"id":8382,"date":"2021-03-18T17:54:11","date_gmt":"2021-03-18T21:54:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.safehorizon.org\/?p=8382"},"modified":"2025-06-10T14:57:01","modified_gmt":"2025-06-10T18:57:01","slug":"safe-horizon-and-asista-file-lawsuit-against-uscis-and-dhs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.safehorizon.org\/press-statements\/foia-lawsuit-immigration-data-u-visa-adjudications\/","title":{"rendered":"Safe Horizon and ASISTA File Lawsuit Against USCIS and DHS"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8189\" src=\"https:\/\/www.safehorizon.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/FOIA.png\" alt=\"FOIA\" width=\"225\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/safehorizon.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/FOIA.png 225w, https:\/\/safehorizon.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/FOIA-150x150.png 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/>March 17, 2021<\/em><\/p>\n<p>NEW YORK, NEW YORK \u2013 Safe Horizon, Inc. and ASISTA Immigration Assistance filed a lawsuit today against the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (\u201cUSCIS\u201d) and its parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security (\u201cDHS\u201d), in federal court in the Southern District of New York. The plaintiffs are suing to compel the agencies to respond to a Freedom of Information Act (\u201cFOIA\u201d) request seeking information on changes to USCIS\u2019s practices that are making it more difficult for noncitizens to obtain lawful immigration status under the U-visa program\u2014a humanitarian remedy specifically reserved for immigrants who have been victims of serious, often violent crime.<\/p>\n<p>For immigrant survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault like Angela Harriet*, obtaining a U-visa can mean protection from the abuser as well as from deportation. When Angela applied for her U-visa, she told USCIS that police had once arrested her after her abusive ex-partner falsely accused her of assault, but the charge was later dismissed and the records sealed. She provided a court certificate confirming the dismissal, and USCIS granted her U-visa in 2013. However, as alleged in the Complaint, starting in 2018, USCIS began requiring all underlying records related to any prior contact with the criminal justice system, including such minor contacts where charges were dismissed, arrests did not lead to charges, or records were sealed. When Angela later applied for her \u201cgreen card\u201d based on her U-status, USCIS demanded that she unseal the records of her arrest. It ultimately denied her green card application, refusing to simply accept the court certificate as it had done before.<\/p>\n<p>Despite this marked shift, USCIS never announced that it had changed its practice, or published any new practice guidance, advisory, or notice. Now, it has failed for over a year to provide any documents or substantive response to Plaintiffs\u2019 FOIA request seeking information about its new practice of requiring records beyond the court certificate.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUSCIS\u2019s decision to hide its U-visa adjudication practices poses a gratuitous and harmful challenge to the most vulnerable humanitarian applicants and the immigration organizations that assist them,\u201d said Gibson Dunn &amp; Crutcher LLP partner Akiva Shapiro, lead counsel for plaintiffs. \u201cBy withholding information about its policies and practices, USCIS is preventing immigrant and victims-of-violence support organizations from doing the important work of developing an accurate understanding of what is required for certain immigration applications , and advising applicants accordingly. It is depriving immigrant applicants of the chance for fully informed representation when presenting their cases,\u201d said Evangeline M. Chan, Director of Safe Horizon\u2019s Immigration Law Project.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe hope that this lawsuit finally compels USCIS to comply with the law, and finally brings to light the new policies USCIS has been keeping hidden,\u201d added Amy Cheung, Senior Legal Counsel at ASISTA.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gibsondunn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/21-cv-2328-Complaint-as-filed.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">A copy of the Complaint can be found here.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>*name has been changed to protect client privacy<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">###<\/p>\n<p>Plaintiff Safe Horizon is the largest nonprofit victim services agency in the United States. Safe Horizon provides support for people who have experienced domestic and intimate partner violence, child physical and sexual abuse, rape and sexual assault, human trafficking, stalking, youth homelessness, and violent crimes committed against a family member and within communities. Safe Horizon\u2019s work affects the lives of more than 250,000 children, adults, and families affected by crime and abuse throughout New York City each year. Safe Horizon\u2019s Immigration Law Project offers legal representation to survivors of violence seeking immigration relief. It serves over 1,000 clients seeking immigration relief each year, a majority of whom are eligible for U-visas.<\/p>\n<p>Plaintiff ASISTA is a legal nonprofit whose mission is to advance the dignity, rights, and liberty of immigrant survivors of violence. ASISTA trains legal representatives of noncitizen survivors of violence, advocates for advances in policy, publishes training materials, and runs training programs that educate the public, legal practitioners, civil and criminal court judges, government officials, advocates, and law enforcement officers about immigration law and practice. A membership organization with over 500 members, ASISTA also partners with numerous other immigration organizations and legal practitioners nationwide, who collectively serve thousands of U-visa-eligible victims of qualifying crimes.<\/p>\n<p>Safe Horizon and ASISTA are being represented in this lawsuit by Akiva Shapiro, Katie Marquart, Alyssa Kuhn, Cassarah Chu, and Emil N. Nachman of the law firm of Gibson, Dunn &amp; Crutcher LLP.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The plaintiffs are suing to compel the agencies to respond to a Freedom of Information Act (\u201cFOIA\u201d) request seeking information on changes to USCIS\u2019s practices that are making it more difficult for noncitizens to obtain lawful immigration status under the U-visa program\u2014a humanitarian remedy specifically reserved for immigrants who have been victims of serious, often violent crime.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":{"id":8189,"alt_text":"FOIA","caption":"","description":"","media_type":"image","media_details":{"width":225,"height":225,"file":"2020\/11\/FOIA.png","sizes":{"thumbnail":{"file":"FOIA-150x150.png","width":150,"height":150,"mime-type":"image\/png","source_url":"https:\/\/www.safehorizon.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/FOIA-150x150.png"}},"image_meta":{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0","keywords":[]}},"post":8188,"source_url":"https:\/\/www.safehorizon.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/FOIA.png"},"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2013],"tags":[1563,1559,1557,1417,328,193,1561],"class_list":["post-8382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-statements-and-press-releases","tag-asista","tag-foia","tag-freedom-of-information-act","tag-ilp","tag-immigration","tag-immigration-law-project","tag-u-visa","issue-child-abuse","issue-domestic-violence","issue-human-trafficking","issue-rape-and-sexual-assault","issue-stalking","issue-victims-of-other-abuse","issue-homeless-youth"],"acf":{"page_header_title":"","title_font_size":"42","page_header_excerpt":" Seeking Information on Policy Change Making it More Difficult for Victims of Serious Crime to Obtain Relief Under the U-Visa Program","sub-headline_placement":false,"page_header_image":false,"custom_scripts":false,"show_author_bio":false,"original_url":"","related_initiative_title":"Do you need help?","related_initiative_link":"\/emergency","related_initiative_link_text":"Visit our Emergency Page with Current Services","featured_posts":[{"ID":874,"post_author":"4","post_date":"2016-06-13 15:02:47","post_date_gmt":"2016-06-13 15:02:47","post_content":"<!-- wp:heading {\"textAlign\":\"center\"} -->\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\" id=\"h-safety-and-protection-no-matter-a-survivor-s-status\">Safety and protection no matter a survivor\u2019s status.<\/h2>\n<!-- \/wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>We help immigrant survivors of violence and abuse obtain status and protection, enabling them to live and work safely in the United States. Our work focuses on humanitarian-based relief created specifically for immigrant survivors, such as U-visas, VAWA self-petitions and asylum, as well as \u201cgreen card\u201d applications, naturalization, and removal defense. We work with people from around the world who have experienced trauma and offer services in any language.<br><\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:acf\/cards-wayfinding {\"name\":\"acf\/cards-wayfinding\",\"data\":{\"heading\":\"How to get help\",\"_heading\":\"field_67b3e8d7221f3\",\"text\":\"Call our Immigration Law Project to make an appointment or for additional information.\",\"_text\":\"field_67b3e8eb221f4\",\"show_images\":\"1\",\"_show_images\":\"field_67e9a6699cc51\",\"cards_0_card_type\":\"fields\",\"_cards_0_card_type\":\"field_67e454157e73b\",\"cards_0_eyebrow\":\"\",\"_cards_0_eyebrow\":\"field_67c38488605be\",\"cards_0_heading\":\"Immigration Law Project\",\"_cards_0_heading\":\"field_67c38495605bf\",\"cards_0_image\":\"\",\"_cards_0_image\":\"field_67c3849d605c0\",\"cards_0_text\":\"718-943-8632\",\"_cards_0_text\":\"field_67c384a7605c1\",\"cards_0_primary_cta\":{\"title\":\"Call 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the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.5 (Yoast SEO v26.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Safe Horizon and ASISTA File Lawsuit Against USCIS and DHS<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The plaintiffs are suing to compel the agencies to respond to a Freedom of Information Act (\u201cFOIA\u201d) request seeking information on changes to USCIS\u2019s practices that are making it more difficult for noncitizens to obtain lawful immigration status under the U-visa program\u2014a humanitarian remedy specifically reserved for immigrants who have been victims of serious, often violent crime.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.safehorizon.org\/press-statements\/foia-lawsuit-immigration-data-u-visa-adjudications\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta 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