(The Center Square) – U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, has introduced the End U Visa Abuse Act. It would amend a section of the Immigration and Nationality Act by striking “U” where it occurs in the text. Roy claims doing so will end the program.
“The U visa program is a magnet for fraud, allowing illegal aliens to game the system, avoid deportation, and secure work permits they were never meant to have in the first place. This broken program undermines the rule of law and encourages further illegal immigration by allowing immigration lawbreakers to claim they are crime victims to potentially qualify for the visa. Alleged victimization should not be a basis for securing a green card – it’s time we end the fraud-ridden U visa program once and for all,” Roy said.
As the state of Texas draws nearer to its May 26 primary runoff election, Roy has filed several bills related to immigration and other topics he previously hadn’t filed bills on during the years he’s served in Congress.
Congress created the U visa in 2000 through the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act, including the Battered Immigrant Women’s Protection Act. It was created to “strengthen the ability of law enforcement agencies to investigate and prosecute cases of domestic violence, sexual assault, trafficking of aliens and other crimes, while also protecting victims of crimes who have suffered substantial mental or physical abuse due to the crime and are willing to help law enforcement authorities in the investigation or prosecution of the criminal activity. The legislation also helps law enforcement agencies to better serve victims of crimes,” the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which oversees the program, explains.
The law imposed a cap of 10,000 U visas a year. As of July 2025, there are more than 400,000 U visas pending with USCIS.
The program has been targeted for fraud for years, either in schemes designed to trick law enforcement or that involve corrupt law enforcement officers.
The most recent example occurred in March when 11 Indian nationals were charged with a conspiracy to commit armed robberies at convenience stores in order for store clerks to falsely claim they were crime victims on their U visa applications. All 11 charged were illegally living in Kentucky, Ohio and Massachusetts.
The alleged scheme involved staged robberies, with a fake robber threatening store clerks with an apparent firearm, taking cash from the register and fleeing, all recorded on store surveillance video footage. The clerks called the police to report the crime only after the “robber” escaped; those involved in the scheme paid participants in the staged robbery, investigators found. One of the fake robbers had a criminal history and was previously convicted for visa fraud but wasn’t deported, according to the charges.
In 2024, six Indian nationals were indicted in a similar scheme in Chicago: staged robberies to enable purported victims to apply for U visas in Illinois, Kentucky, Ohio, Wisconsin, Florida and Tennessee.
Last year, USCIS uncovered a massive U visa fraud scheme in Louisiana involving four active and former law enforcement officers. In a 62-count indictment, the officers were charged with bribery, conspiracy to commit visa fraud, and mail fraud. If convicted, they face decades in prison.
The scheme allegedly involved foreign nationals seeking U visas to contact an officer who named them as victims in police reports to enable them to apply for U visas and certified their visa applications. In return, they allegedly paid the officers thousands of dollars, according to the charges.
A 2022 USCIS Inspector General report identified approved U visa petitions that had been forged, altered or had suspicious law enforcement certifications. Investigators concluded that USCIS didn’t track fraud referrals and wasn’t properly monitoring the program.
A 2020 USCIS report found that only 5% of U visa petitioners had lawful immigration status; 79% reported never having lawful status; 14% said they were visa overstays.
