DOL to Support Of Victims of Human Trafficking and Other Crimes Seeking Immigration Relief

In early 2015, the Wage and Hour Division (WHD) of the Department of Labor will begin exercising its authority to certify applications for trafficking victims seeking T visas. In addition, WHD will expand its existing U visa program by certifying such requests when it detects three additional qualifying criminal activities in the course of its workplace investigations: extortion, forced labor, and fraud in foreign labor contracting. These efforts will significantly help qualifying victims of these crimes receive immigration relief from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and access the range of victim services that they need to recover and rebuild their lives.