>> For many foreign national victims of human trafficking,
it all started with the promise of a good job
in the United States.
But the traffickers don't fulfill this promise.
Traffickers often use the threat of arrest and deportation
to keep victims fearful and controlled,
even after you come in contact with victims
and are investigating their traffickers.
The victims fear can linger, their trauma is acute,
and they have a great need for social services
to get back on their feet.
The fear, trauma and need for recovery
can sometimes prevent or delay victims
from reporting their trafficker
and cooperating with law enforcement.
Yet the victims are essential and building cases
against their traffickers.
How then, can you simultaneously assist the trafficking victim
and build the foundation for a successful investigation?
The answer is continued presence.
The Department of Homeland Security
wants you to be aware of this law enforcement tool,
which can help you bolster
your human trafficking investigations.
It helps you use a victim centered approach,
which places equal value on the needs of the victim
and the investigation.
Continued presence is a discretionary tool
for law enforcement,
which allows eligible foreign nationals
to remain in the United States
temporarily to facilitate an investigation or prosecution
of the human trafficking related crimes committed against them.
The designation can allow a victim
to remain for the duration of the criminal case,
as well as a federal civil action
and alleviates their concern
about removal from the United States.
With continued presence, a trafficking victim
may remain temporarily in the United States for two years,
extensions may be granted in increments of up to two years
as long as the victim remains compliant
with the conditions of continued presence.
Victims with continued presence receive a work permit
at no cost to them or the law enforcement agency.
The ability to work legally in the United States
helps to ease victims worries about economic support.
Victims may also be eligible for federally funded benefits
and services to the same extent as refugees.
Such benefits and services
include refugee cash and medical assistance.
The Matching Grant Program,
the Public Housing Program and Job Corps.
In many cases, the victims will receive services
from non-governmental organizations,
which will assist them
in accessing these benefits and services.
These are all crucial to a victim's recovery
and successful participation
in an investigation and prosecution.
Continued presence is meant
specifically for foreign nationals
who are victims of human trafficking
and may be applied to all foreign national victims
associated with the case.
The key requirements are that federal, state
or local law enforcement
must identify a foreign national as one,
a victim of a severe form of trafficking in persons
and to a potential witness in an investigation
or prosecution of the trafficker.
How do you determine this? Let's break it down.
The victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection
Act of 2000,
as amended, defines a victim of a severe form of trafficking
for sex trafficking. This means the recruitment
harboring transportation provision,
obtaining patronizing or soliciting of a person
for the purpose of a commercial sex act
in which a commercial sex act is induced by force,
fraud or coercion,
or in which the person induced to perform such an act
is under 18 years of age.
For labor trafficking, a severe form of trafficking is defined
as the recruitment harboring transportation provision
or obtaining of a person for labor or services
through the use of force, fraud or coercion
for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude.
Peonage debt bondage or slavery.
Continued presence is therefore applicable
to victims of either sex or labor trafficking.
Although the crime needs to be a severe form of trafficking
as defined by the aforementioned federal statute,
it does not necessarily need to include violence.
Traffickers employ a wide range of nonviolent measures
to hold victims against their will,
including threats of deportation,
psychological coercion
and control of documents such as passports,
whether victims were held by means of force,
fraud or coercion.
They have still been held against their will
and they are still eligible for continued presence.
Continued presence should be requested
as soon as practicable after the individual
is determined to be a victim of a severe form of trafficking.
You do not need to have charges,
an indictment or a prosecutor involved.
In some cases,
you may only have the victim's account of what happened.
If you believe the victim is credible
and if you will be taking any next steps to investigate,
then requesting continued presence is appropriate.
In some cases after you have determined the individual
is a victim of a severe form of trafficking.
You may recognize that he or she is too traumatized
to work with you immediately.
However, after receiving services,
they could be stable enough to provide evidence.
It is still appropriate to request
continued presence in such cases.
You should request continued presence
for every eligible victim
who may be a potential witness in a case so that he or she
is available if necessary for the investigation.
For example, if the case involves 20 eligible victims
who may be potential witnesses in the case,
you may request continued presence for all 20 victims.
Continued presence is also available to victims
who pursue a civil case against their traffickers
in federal court.
Victims who have filed a federal civil action under 18 U.S.C.
Section 115 95 are eligible to receive continued presence
until the action is concluded. Please direct those victims
to the nearest Homeland Security Investigations HCI
victim assistance specialist.
Continued presence should be requested
as soon as possible after the individual
is determined to be a foreign national
who is a victim of a severe form of trafficking
and may be a potential witness
to an investigation or prosecution.
If you are unable to make an immediate determination
that the person is a victim of a severe form of trafficking,
you should request a deferred action
from your local Immigration and Customs Enforcement ICE office.
This will protect the individual from removal
until another interview can be scheduled
and a definitive determination can be made.
Absent exigent circumstances, deferred action
or significant public benefit parole
as PBP should not be used in lieu of continued presence
because continued presence recipients may be eligible
to receive public benefits. Do not under any circumstances,
use continued presence as a bargaining chip
or other incentive for cooperation.
Doing so could mimic the traffickers coercive techniques.
Continued presence is available to all law enforcement agencies
that have authority to investigate
or prosecute human trafficking.
There is, however, a difference in requesting
continued presence if you are federal vs.
state or local law enforcement.
Federal law enforcement agencies submit requests
for continued presence
directly to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
ICE HCI headquarters, state and local law enforcement
go through a federal law enforcement partner
who will sponsor the request.
If you don't have the forms to initiate a request,
reach out to the nearest H.S. office.
HCI can also provide you with the continued presence protocol
for requesting and sponsoring law enforcement agencies,
which are law enforcement sensitive instructions.
Continued presence requests go to ICE HRC headquarters
and if approved, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration
Services USCIS prepare the documents.
The amount of time required to adjudicate
a specific continued presence request will vary
depending on the unique facts of the case.
ICE will make an effort to process
the sponsoring law enforcement agencies request within 30 days
from the date it receives the application.
It may take approximately two months total
for all the paperwork to process once processing is complete.
The law enforcement agency that submitted the request
will receive an I-94 and work permit for each victim.
After that, it is the responsibility
of the requesting law enforcement agent to submit
quarterly monitoring updates to ICE HCI headquarters.
Timing plays a key role in the stabilization of the victim,
as well as the investigation as a whole.
So when should you begin the process?
Request continued presence as soon as possible
after the individual
is determined to be a victim of a severe form of trafficking
and may be a potential witness.
After all, you want to keep this victim in the country
and alleviate their fear of removal
while you determine next steps in your case.
This timing is consistent with the victim centered approach
and human trafficking cases
and will also help build the foundation for a solid case.
Begin the continued presence paperwork
as early as possible after determining
that there are a victim and submit
the forms to ICE HCI headquarters.
The sooner you are able to submit a request for processing,
the sooner you will be able to help stabilize
your potential witnesses.
Continued presence may be terminated
if you later determine that the person is not a victim
if the person commits a crime after being granted
continued presence or changes immigration status,
or if the criminal or civil action concludes.
Notify ICE HSA headquarters if at any point
you determine any of these factors to be true.
Continued presence is designed to be a tool
to help you as a member of law enforcement,
build a strong foundation for cases of human trafficking
through a victim centered approach.
Continued presence should be requested as soon as possible
after the individual is determined to be a victim
to provide stability to trafficking victims
and keep potential witnesses safely
and legally in the United States.
For more information,
please visit the Blue Campaign's website at WW
WDR asked Gov Slash Blue Dash campaign.
Email us at Blue Campaign at HQ Dot DHS
dot gov. Or connect with us on Facebook.