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President Trump says his deportations prioritize immigrants who committed violent crimes. But authorities are detaining migrants who thought they were protected by a program that offers help to crime victims. Zane Irwin of the Kansas News Service has the story.
ZANE IRWIN, BYLINE: In 2022, Jose Madrid-Leiva was robbed at gunpoint while pumping gas in Merriam, Kansas. The father of three already had a lot on his plate. He does not have legal status in the U.S., but what he does have is a pending application for what's called a U visa. It's a program that allows some crime victims to earn a pathway to legal status if they cooperate with law enforcement. But despite that, Immigration and Customs Enforcement took Madrid-Leiva into custody after a routine traffic stop by local police in April. Speaking through an interpreter, his brother Jairo says the arrest blindsided his family.
JAIRO: (Through interpreter) The kids don't sleep. They have bags under their eyes. And they're getting skinnier, and his wife, as well. They're simply devastated.
IRWIN: Madrid-Leiva's lawyer, Rekha Sharma-Crawford, has been fighting his arrest in federal court. She says his case appears to be part of a new policy by the Trump istration to target as many categories of people as they can for deportation, not just violent offenders.
REKHA SHARMA-CRAWFORD: The rhetoric is, we're trying to get rid of the worst. OK, well, people who've been victims of violent crime aren't your worst.
IRWIN: The U visa was launched in 2000. It's one of several programs designed to protect immigrants on humanitarian grounds. Some U visa applicants are authorized to work and receive temporary protections from deportation. Once it's granted, recipients are on track for permanent legal residency or a green card. Kathleen Bush-Joseph is with the Migration Policy Institute.
KATHLEEN BUSH-JOSEPH: Congress recognized there's a value in protecting immigrants who come forward, report crimes and are willing to work with local police.
IRWIN: But federal authorities can only give out 10,000 U visas per year. That limit has left a quarter of a million migrants waiting decades, in some cases, for a final decision. Under former President Joe Biden, ICE agents were told to avoid detaining people who've applied for benefits through programs like the U visa. But in an internal memo leaked in January, ICE leadership rescinded that guidance. An ICE spokesperson responded to NPR, but he did not answer detailed questions about why the agency is arresting migrants who thought they would receive protections for cooperating with law enforcement.
NPR spoke with immigration attorneys in Missouri, Florida and Pennsylvania who are already seeing the impact this policy has on clients. Philippe Weisz is co-director of legal services at the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society in Pennsylvania.
PHILIPPE WEISZ: Everybody's rightfully concerned. And not only are they not applying for U visas, but these crimes that are occurring are not being reported.
IRWIN: Florida immigration attorney Andrew Clopman says targeting crime victims instead of perpetrators is counterproductive.
ANDREW CLOPMAN: They'd rather go with the quick, easy deportation, and I don't feel that that's making society safer.
IRWIN: It's impossible to tell how many crimes could go unreported by survivors who fear deportation for coming forward. But hundreds of thousands of people have pending applications for U visas - people like the Madrid-Leiva family, who are now unsure what their futures hold as the istration continues to go after programs that once protected migrants.
For NPR News, I'm Zane Irwin in Kansas City, Missouri.
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