The Under-subscription of T-1 Visas: A Study on America’s Conceptualization of Human Trafficking Victims
Abstract
This thesis examines the framing of the Victims in Trafficking in Persons nonimmigrant
Visa (T Visa), established in 2000 within the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA)—part
of the domestic effort within the United States to combat trafficking following the
Palermo Protocol. Since its inception, the T Visa has been severely undersubscribed,
in both the number of applicants and those who are ultimately approved for the T Visa.
Each year Congress is authorized to approve up to 5,000 T Visas, yet between 2002-2010
Congress approved less than 4,000 of 6,000 total applications for the T Visa. This
study explores why the T Visa is undersubscribed by examining the frames and branding
of the T Visa both in terms of the State Department’s presentation to non governmental
organizations (NGOs) and NGO’s presentation to victims of trafficking. Based off an
analysis of three organizations (the State Department, the Coalition for the Abolition
of Slavery and Trafficking, and the Polaris Project), this study finds the presence
of a prosecutorial framework, an anti-slavery framing that goes against certain feminist
presentations of trafficking, and a palpable tension between immigration and humanitarian
law are all possible contributing factors to the T Visa’s under-subscription. In the
conclusion, recommendations are made in order to curb this under-subscription and
make the T Visa a more effective tool. Specifically, the author recommends all three
organizations, as well as policymakers in the United States at large, rethink their
framing of trafficking and consider revamping or changing their focus on antislavery
framing.
Type
Honors thesisDepartment
Public Policy StudiesPermalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10161/6493Citation
Horstmann, Bethany (2012). The Under-subscription of T-1 Visas: A Study on America’s Conceptualization of Human
Trafficking Victims. Honors thesis, Duke University. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/6493.Collections
More Info
Show full item record
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Rights for Collection: Undergraduate Honors Theses and Student papers
Works are deposited here by their authors, and represent their research and opinions, not that of Duke University. Some materials and descriptions may include offensive content. More info