A new category of immigration visas, designated as "T-visas," was approved by U.S. Attorney General Ashcroft yesterday for illegal immigrants---and their immediate family members---smuggled into the country and forced to work as domestic servants, farm laborers, or prostitutes. The Immigration and Naturalization Service will grant 5,000 of these visas a year to victims of human-trafficking who would suffer "extreme hardship involving unusual and severe harm" if forced to return to their countries of origin. It is estimated that each year 50,000 individuals become victims of human-trafficking rings supplying forced labor to U.S. employers, many of them women and children.
See "Visas Created For Victims Of Slavery", The Associated Press, The Washington Post, January 24, 2002