Due to circumstances out of their control, non-citizens are often the victims of crime. They may be in abusive relationships, assaulted, robbed, threatened with a gun, extorted or blackmailed. In some cases, the abuse is perpetrated by a family member, that is a U.S. citizen or permanent resident spouse or U.S. citizen adult child. In other cases, individuals have been trafficked into the United States for sex work or other labor. Federal law grants certain protections and benefits to many classes of individuals:

• victims of certain crimes (U and T visas),
• immigrant children who have been abused, neglected or abandoned by their parent (SIJ),
• persons who cannot return to their home country due to wars or natural disasters and whose country has been designated for Temporary Protected Status (TPS),
• parents and spouses of veterans or servicemembers of the U.S. Armed Forces (Military Parole in Place),
• persons who were brought as children and were granted deferred action (DACA), and
• persons in urgent need of entering (or remaining in) the United States for humanitarian or significant public benefit reasons (Humanitarian Parole).

Our office has helped hundreds of families and individuals obtained status and safety in the United States through these programs.