By Kasey Husk

The words “human trafficking” rightfully conjure horrific images for most, images of people being transported in containers and exploited by nameless villains. Sometimes, this is the case. Thousands of people each year are lured to the United States by individuals who promise them a better life, then use violence, threats, or other forms of coercion to force them to provide labor or commercial sex acts for the trafficker’s benefit. The United States seeks to combat such human trafficking by offering victims of trafficking T nonimmigrant status (T visa) in exchange for help in finding their traffickers and bringing them to justice.

Yet it is important to recognize that traffickers are not always strangers taking advantage of other strangers. Sometimes, traffickers know their victims as well as any person can; they can be spouses, parents, aunts, and uncles, or even siblings of the victim. Each situation is different, but what these kinds of traffickers always have in common is that they use force, fraud, or coercion to compel their victim to do what they want. That can mean demanding the victim hand over all their paychecks, forcing them to work for free in a family business, or acting as a virtual servant in the family home.

At Eagan Immigration, we are experts in determining when a situation others might deem as “simple” domestic violence could actually qualify a client for a T Visa. We’ve helped dozens of individuals seek legal status in the United States based on labor they were forced to provide to a romantic partner, spouse, parent, or family member. This is a lesser-known avenue for obtaining a T Visa, the value of which is that clients can receive work permits and permission to stay in the United States for up to four years with this status. After three of those years, they can apply for lawful permanent residency. Even clients who might normally be inadmissible under other circumstances can qualify with this visa. The T Visa is thus a pathway to citizenship even for those who might not otherwise has a shot at gaining legal status another way.

Each and every single case at Eagan is different. We’ve filed petitions for clients whose siblings lured them to the United States to turn them into an unpaid domestic servant/nanny and we’ve filed others for clients whose parents forced them to work for free for years in a family business. In each case, the traffickers isolated their victims and used threats of deportation or violence to rob them of their autonomy and keep them working for the trafficker’s benefit. Today, however, we look at an Eagan Immigration client who recently received approval for her T Visa petition just 13 months after Eagan filed her case.

Why seek a T Visa instead of a Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) Self-Petition?

The abusive tactics that traffickers employ against their loved ones to force them to work often easily meet the criteria for extreme cruelty and abuse needed for a VAWA Self-Petition. However, not all victims would qualify for VAWA, and that’s where Eagan’s DV-Turned-Trafficking T Visa petitions come in. For example, a victim’s spouse or parent may be highly abusive to them, but if the trafficker is not a citizen or lawful permanent resident, a VAWA petition is not an option. Likewise, for a spousal abuse case, VAWA requires the petitioner to have been married (common-law or otherwise) to their abuser or divorced from them within the last two years. The T Visa imposes no such restriction.

*Note: names and identifying details for this client have been changed to protect her privacy.

Sofia’s Story: Domestic Violence Turns Into Human Trafficking

“Sofia” first met the man who would become her trafficker when she was just 15 years old and living in her native Mexico. Sofia was raised in difficult and highly abusive conditions, where she was physically, emotionally and sexually abused by various family members from childhood. Her trafficker, “Diego,” a grown man many years her senior, convinced teenaged Sofia that he would love her and provide for her if she agreed to a relationship with him. Diego’s kindness in those early days, coupled with Sofia’s difficult home life, made moving in with his family seem like an easy decision. Then, he began to show his true colors.

As soon as Sofia was living under his roof, Diego took total control over her life. From the beginning, Sofia felt she had no escape. Diego terrorized her by screaming at her, beating her and threatening her. He told her that if she left the house without his permission, he would “know” she was cheating and kill her. He demanded that she do all the household chores and cook meals for him on demand. If she received any money or gifts from her mother, she had to give them to him. He turned her into his chauffeur and would call her to come pick him up from bars at all hours of the night when he finished hanging out with his friends. He even forced her to care for his mother while she was in the hospital, sending her to do various caregiving tasks in his stead. Sofia knew she could not rely on her own family, many of whom had also abused her, to help her if she fled. She was still a child, trapped in situation she could not escape.

Diego forced Sofia to come with him to the United States when she was just 16 years old. Once there, he immediately found her a job and demanded she go to work. He consistently failed to hold down jobs himself because of his drinking, so soon enough she had to work two jobs to provide for their needs. Virtually every penny she earned went directly into Diego’s pockets, and much of it was spent on alcohol and gambling. She could not save money because he demanded all her earnings, and she risked being beaten if she did not comply. On the rare occasions she managed to hide some of her money, he invariably found it, stole it, and punished her for the deception.

Sofia’s situation grew even more desperate once her two children were born. Despite her long work hours, Diego had continued to expect Sofia to wait on him hand-and-foot as she had when they lived in Mexico. He refused to do any household chores or childcare, largely deeming this “women’s work.” He expected her to cook him three hot meals per day, despite her insane working hours. She lived in a perpetual state of exhaustion and terror.

Sofia hoped she’d escaped Diego when he was deported about ten years after their arrival, but he returned three years later and found her once more. He terrorized both her and the children, including setting things on fire in the house to punish her for infractions such as failing to give him money for gambling. He continued to treat her like a servant, refusing to even open the door himself when he came home late at night because he wanted her to do it. He raped her whenever he wanted sex, regardless of whether she was ill or if her children were in the same room. He beat her regularly. Chillingly, he often threatened to separate her from her children by reporting her to immigration if she did not do what he said. Given his neglectful and abusive behavior toward the children, Sofia saw this as a deeply dangerous situation for them because they would then be left in his care. Under these circumstances, Sofia felt her only choice was to continue to provide Diego with everything he demanded of her.

Even once Diego was deported a second time, he continued to exert control over Sofia. He demanded she give him money so that he could open a business in Mexico, which she did because she hoped it would keep him from returning to terrorize the family once more. However, Diego ran the business into the ground within months and promptly demanded that Sofia send more money. This time, he threatened to murder her brothers and mother if she did not. She blocked his number, but one year later he returned to her doorstep. She had to give him money and important documents to make him go away.

An important factor in this case is that Sofia never reasonably had the ability to return to Mexico. If she’d tried to flee her trafficker early in the relationship, she would have had nowhere to seek refuge but with the family who’d abused her and told her that she should stay committed to her partner. Diego, who hailed from the same town, would have found her with her family and perhaps killed her. Once the first of her two children was born when she was only 19 years old, she could not have left the United States with them without Diego’s permission. Given his consistent use of the kids to force Sofia to work for him, he never would have agreed to this. Leaving the children with their abusive father was out of the question.

Since receiving her T Nonimmigrant Status in early 2024, Sofia at last has the relief of knowing she will not be deported and separated from her children. With her employment authorization card, she can seek better-paying work that allows her to support her kids better. If Diego reappears, she can call the police without fearing that it will lead to a discovery of her status. Most important of all, she can apply for lawful permanent resident status in the coming years. With that, she will have the assurance she needs that she will never be parted from her U.S. citizen children.

Think you or someone you know might qualify for a T Visa based on a domestic violence situation? The expert attorneys at Eagan Immigration can help you determine whether you can qualify for this or another type of visa or immigration benefit. Reach out to an immigration specialist today at 202-709-6439 for a free, confidential phone evaluation.