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Streamlining Your Agency’s U Visa Policy and Practice

June 21, 2016

The National Immigrant Women’s Advocacy Project (NIWAP), in partnership with the Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women (OVW), is excited to announce the launch of its virtual Monthly U Visa Roundtable Series for Law Enforcement and Prosecutors. NIWAP’s national faculty of law enforcement officers and prosecutors, who are experts on U visa certifications and language access, will lead these monthly calls and provide live technical assistance on U visa and/or language access questions participants may have. 

In these monthly conference calls, which are limited to law enforcement and prosecutors, NIWAP’s law enforcement trainers will discuss best practices and address questions on U visa certification and language access and how each plays a crucial role in improving victim, officer, and community safety. The U Visa was created as a crime fighting tool that removes the fear of deportation and encourages immigrant crime victims to report their victimization to law enforcement and participate in criminal investigations and prosecutions of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, human trafficking, kidnapping, felonious assault, and other serious crimes.

Session 3 will cover the elements of an effective U visa certification policy and the benefits of adopting such policies to law enforcement agencies. U visas can serve as a useful tool for law enforcement to better serve immigrant victims of crime by removing the fear of deportation when they report criminal activity. Model policies help departments adopt U visa certification procedures that streamline the process to ensure that department resources are utilized in the best way possible. This roundtable will discuss the elements of successful policies and how departments can adopt these policies seamlessly. Attendees will also have the opportunity to ask case specific questions and receive live technical assistance. In an effort to facilitate useful and informed discussion, these roundtables will be exclusively available to law enforcement and prosecution officials only. 

The training faculty for Session 3 will be:

• Officer Michael P. LaRiviere, Salem Police Department, Salem, Massachusetts
• Sergeant Inspector Antonio Flores, San Francisco Police Department, San Francisco, California

Register here: http://goo.gl/forms/fdxG5fWnTMR9AACi2

For more information contact Bebe Anver, NIWAP Policy Staff Attorney, at: 
Office 202-274-4393| | banver@niwap.org