FEDERAL INFORMANTS ARE OFTEN PROMISED VISAS. THEY RARELY MATERIALIZE – By Trevor Aaronson (The Intercept) / June 29 2021
Instead of bad faith, a new report finds a broken system.
NERVIN CORONADO CAME to the United States when he was 12 years old, but he never became a U.S. citizen. As an adult, in 2009, Coronado was charged with participating in a mortgage fraud scheme.
He immediately cut a deal with the Justice Department: He’d provide information about others involved in the scheme, including two lawyers and a former New York State Senate candidate, in exchange for what’s known as an S visa — a special visa, commonly referred to as a “snitch visa,” for noncitizen informants and cooperating witnesses. In fact, Coronado’s agreement with the government specifically stated that if he fulfilled his obligations, the Justice Department would recommend that he receive an S visa to stay in the United States.
Coronado held up his end of the bargain, providing information that led to the arrest and conviction of nine people involved in the mortgage fraud scheme. He then asked the government to give him the S visa he’d been promised. The Justice Department repeatedly declined, pointing to the fact that Coronado could not articulate “verifiable safety concerns” if he returned to the Dominican Republic, his native country.
An immigration judge ordered Coronado’s removal in 2016, and he was deported three years later, following a series of unsuccessful appeals. It was a raw deal for Coronado. The U.S. government had effectively used him to prosecute mortgage fraudsters, and then, when he was no longer useful, they had cast him aside.
CONTINUE > https://theintercept.com/2021/06/29/informants-s-visa-broken-system/
