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Unable to legally work in the US for years, six NEPA undocumented immigrants sue federal agency

William J. Nealon Federal Building and United States Courthouse in Scranton.
Aimee Dilger
/
WVIA News
William J. Nealon Federal Building and United States Courthouse in Scranton.

Six undocumented immigrants who live in Lackawanna or Luzerne counties have filed a federal lawsuit asking a judge to order a final ruling on their status.

They contend they applied for special visas that would allow them to stay in United States but can’t get the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services agency to decide anything in their case.

The special visa program, known as U-visa, allows undocumented immigrants to stay in the U.S. if they were victims of qualifying crimes in this country and could help prosecutors convict suspects. The crimes include domestic violence, sexual assault or trafficking and victims must have suffered substantial physical or mental abuse.

The program requires local district attorneys, chiefs of police or other law enforcement officials to certify the undocumented immigrant is necessary for prosecution.

The six “are suffering financial and emotional hardship due to (the agency’s) unreasonable delay in processing and adjudicating” the applications and are suffering “lost economic opportunities due to the extended delay by the agency,” according to the suit, which was filed Nov. 26.

Four of the six have waited five years or longer for a ruling, which is supposed to take 60 days, according to the suit.

  • Alireth Velasquez Fernandez and Marlon Lara Velazquez, citizens of Honduras who live in Old Forge, applied on Dec. 4, 2019.
  • Amanda Robles Montes De Oca, a citizen of Mexico who lives in West Hazleton, applied on Nov. 27, 2017.
  • Andrew Avalos Palacios, a citizen of El Salvador who lives in Berwick, applied on Nov. 3, 2017.
  • Marianne Rodriguez Castro, a citizen of the Dominican Republic who lives in Scranton, applied on July 29, 2024.
  • Carold Mejia Diaz, a citizen of the Dominican Republican who lives in Hazleton, applied on April 4, 2024.

Efforts to reach their lawyer, Daniel Cortes, and an agency spokesman were unsuccessful.

Without a ruling or being on a waitlist, the six cannot obtained Social Security numbers, driver’s licenses or state ID cards, Real ID, healthcare or “lawful employment,” according to the lawsuit. They also are not protected from deportation.

“Without the ability to support themselves and their families while their applications are pending, crime survivors are often trapped under the control of their abusers,” Cortes said.

Under the U-visa program, undocumented immigrants apply but are usually put on waitlists because the agency has fallen years behind in processing applications, said attorney Tracey M. Hubbard, a Scranton immigration lawyer not involved in this suit.

Congress established the U-visa program in 2000 to protect non-citizen crime victims “in keeping with the humanitarian interests of the United States.”

“A person admitted to the program receives protection from (deportation) for four years,” Cortes wrote in the suit.

The person may legally work here and gains “a potential route to permanent residency.”

The program is capped at 10,000 people a year, which has led to backlogs since 2010, according to the suit.

The suit says the agency has “no legal basis” for failing to decide for so long.

It asks the U.S. District Court to take over jurisdiction, declare the agency violated the law and order a ruling with an explanation if the agency denies the applications.

Borys joins WVIA News from The Scranton Times-Tribune, where he served as an investigative reporter and covered a wide range of political stories. His work has been recognized with numerous national and state journalism awards from the Inland Press Association, Pennsylvania Associated Press Managing Editors, Society of Professional Journalists and Pennsylvania Newsmedia Association.

You can email Borys at boryskrawczeniuk@wvia.org