Misrecognitions of Victimhood

Discretionary Power of Street-level Bureaucrats in Humanitarian Visas

Bibliographic Data

ID12175656
AuthorsRyan Goehrung (0000-0002-2149-1756, University of Washington, corresponding author), Rachel Castellano (0000-0003-1289-4470, University of Washington)
Year2023
Volume49
Issue2
Pages1192-1221
Publication date2023-06-26
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueLaw & Social Inquiry (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0897-6546 • E-ISSN: 1747-4469
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/lsi.2023.31
OpenAlexW4382060410
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited54

Humanitarian visas provide one of few potential pathways to citizenship for foreign nationals victimized within the United States and are an important aspect of immigration law. Yet one form of humanitarian visas—T nonimmigrant status (T visa)—has received scant attention in the socio-legal studies literature. “T visas” were designed to aid survivors of human trafficking and, though the US government estimates that tens of thousands of individuals are trafficked in the United States every year, only 15 percent of the five thousand T visas available annually have been granted since the program’s inception in 2002. Why are T visas such an underutilized form of immigration relief? Drawing on twenty in-depth interviews with immigration lawyers, law enforcement personnel, and non-governmental organization service providers routinely involved in T visa applications, we find that the low rate of applications and approvals is driven by a combination of structural barriers and expansive discretion of key actors in the legal process to interpret and apply the law, which results in a narrow and often misinformed construction of victimhood. We add to the literature on the discretionary power of street-level bureaucrats to shape the law and determine how it is applied with considerable consequences for survivors of trafficking

Business · Citizenship · Discretion · Enforcement · Expansive · Government (linguistics · Immigration · Immigration law · Law enforcement · Political science · Politics · Service (business · Service provider · Law · Migration, Health and Trauma · Migration, Refugees, and Integration · Public Administration · Sex work and related issues

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