When Jorge Garcia delivered a pizza in Van Nuys in September 2003, he was forced at knifepoint to enter the apartment.
Garcia said two men choked him until he passed out. When he awoke, his neck and wrist had been sliced and his stomach burned with an iron. The men told Garcia they had a gun and threatened to kill him. Then the assailants picked him up, threw him in the trunk of his car and dumped the vehicle.
Bleeding and in pain, Garcia escaped and sought help.
He later identified both men and testified against them in court, helping convict them of several charges -- including robbery, carjacking and kidnapping -- that will send them to prison for life.
The crime made Garcia, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, eligible for a little-known benefit from the U.S. government. As a crime victim who cooperated with law enforcement, Garcia was able to apply for a visa that would grant him temporary legal status in the United States. But nearly a year after submitting his application, Garcia hasn't received a response from the government.
Congress created the U-visa in 2000 to bolster law enforcement's ability to investigate and prosecute certain crimes while offering protection to the victims. After an eight-year delay, the government issued its first U-visa last summer.
Through the end of 2008, 65 such visas had been issued, although about 13,300 people have filed applications. Twenty have been denied.
After a preliminary review, the government also has given temporary benefits to 10,800 applicants while they wait for a final decision, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration.
"They are dragging their heels," said Alan Diamante, a longtime immigration attorney in Los Angeles. "These people are not a priority."
They should be a priority because the visa is an incentive for victims to come forward and assist law enforcement, Diamante said.
But Federation for American Immigration Reform spokesman Ira Mehlman said that the visas shouldn't exist and that victims of crime should cooperate with police regardless of what they might receive in return.
"You shouldn't have to bribe somebody to come forward," he said. "Being a victim of a crime shouldn't be your ticket to stay in the United States."
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services spokeswoman Sharon Rummery said that the agency is moving forward on the visas but that it is a long process.
