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3 Colum. J. Race & L. 253 (2013)
Intersectional Discrimination in U Visa Certification Denials: An Irremediable Violation of Equal Protection

handle is hein.journals/cjoral3 and id is 253 raw text is: COLUMBIA JOURNAL OF RACE AND LAW INTERSECTIONAL DISCRIMINATION IN U VISA CERTIFICATION DENIALS: AN IRREMEDIABLE VIOLATION OF EQUAL PROTECTION? ALEXANDRA GRANT* Through the U visa, the Immigration and Nationality Act offers a means to obtain legal imigration status or undocumented victims of domestic violence and other specified crimes who cooperate with law enforcement in the investigation or prosecution of those crimes. In order to appj for such a visa, a crime vctim must obtain law enforcement certification that he or she has been, is being, or will be he/pful to the investigation or prosecution of the crime. This Note argues that the Act's provision of discretion to local law enforcement officias in the decision of whether to grant U visa certification requests violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, at least as applied to battered undocumented Latina immigrants in Suffolk County, New York. The Note uses certification denials to critique the equal protection doctrine in the United States and to show how the Inter-American human rights system's conception of equal protection would better address the intersectional discrimination faced bj undocumented victims of domestic violence. The Note discusses the was in which interrelated forms of discrimination lead to unconstitutional denia/s of U visa certification requests. It then predicts the outcome of a potential suit based on the equal protection violation inherent in a discriminatory certification denial before domestic courts and before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. It argues that such a suit would have a much greater chance of success in the latter system. Finally, acknow/edging the limitedpractical effect of a successful claim before the Commission, the Note proposes a domestic grassroots movement to more meaningfully address the intersectional discrimination that faces battered undocumented women. I. INTRODUCTION.............................................. 254 II. BACKGROUND: U VISAS, EQUAL PROTECTION, IMMIGRATION, AND DISCRETION............................................. 255 A. U Visas and Certification. ................................... 255 B. Equal Protection. ................................... ...... 257 C. Equal Protection and Noncitizens............................. 258 D. Law Enforcement Discretion ................................ 260 III. EQUAL PROTECTION VIOLATIONS IN U VISA CERTIFICATION AND BEYOND, AND THE UNLIKELIHOOD OF REDRESS.......... 261 J.D. 2013, Columbia Law School. 2013 253

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