Providing a victim with a certification for a U2 or T3 Visa application can build rapport, establish trust, protect the victim from the offender, dispel the victim’s fear of deportation, and enhance the victim’s ability to participate in the prosecution.However, prosecutors often fear that by providing a victim with a U or T Visa certification, the prosecution will be vulnerable to attacks by the defense that the victim has an improper motive to testify and/or that the victim is biased towards the prosecution/government because they have been given an immigration benefit. In response to this fear, there has been a reluctance on the part of prosecutors to sign U and T Visa certifications prior to the resolution of the criminal case. Prosecutors have also advised law enforcement that they would prefer that law enforcement officials not sign U or T Visa certifications early in the investigation. While this response is understandable, it undermines one of the primary purposes of offering immigration relief to victims of crime: protecting the victim from deportation and undermining the ability of offenders to use threats of deportation to coerce, control, and tamper with the victim’s participation in the criminal investigation or prosecution.