SAN JOSE, Calif. — As the Trump administration continues its aggressive immigration crackdown, Congressman Jimmy Panetta has introduced new legislation to protect undocumented immigrant survivors and witnesses of crimes cooperating with law enforcement.

Advocates and public officials say the feds tough stance on immigrants already has led to a chilling effect on the reporting of criminal incidents.

While the Trump administration’s enforcement efforts initially focused on the deportation of serious criminals, Panetta said that the scope of its policy agenda has widened to include anyone undocumented — even those granted temporary protected status, causing apprehension and distrust.

Panetta’s bill, known as the Immigrant Witness and Victim Protection Act, would remove the cap on U and T visas — designed for victims and witnesses of qualifying crimes — and allow applicants access to work permits and prevent them from being deported as they await processing.

“This bill would not only allow us to secure justice in courtrooms, it would provide safety and security to our communities,” Panetta said at a news conference outside San Jose City Hall Thursday. “It would strengthen that trust in our democracy that’s needed now more than ever.”

Along with following through on the campaign promise to conduct the most considerable mass deportation effort in history, the Trump administration has targeted changes to the issuance of visas in the name of protecting Americans or national interests.

The Republican-controlled Congress has also massively increased Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s budget for more agents, detention centers and sweeps, triggering mass panic in the immigrant community.

Panetta said the Trump administration has eyed eliminations of the U and T visa programs, which he said already had an arbitrary cap of 10,000 and 5,000, respectively, and created a multiple year processing backlog. If that happens, he warned of the direct effects to public safety because more victims and witnesses to crimes would not come forward.

That fear has also been prevalent in Santa Clara County, where 40% of its population are immigrants and law enforcement officials have begun to see challenges with the reporting of crimes.

“We receive dozens of requests for immigration legal services on a daily basis,” said Jeremy Barousse of the Amigos de Guadalupe Center for Justice & Empowerment. “It’s the No. 1 requested service at our agency, and many of those requests are for individuals seeking some form of relief after falling victim to a crime.”

After Trump’s victory in the November election, San Jose and Santa Clara County public leaders have taken several steps to protect the immigrant community, including allocating more money for legal services amid the threat of immigration sweeps.

Despite their support, local politicians acknowledged it was not enough to offset the effects — another reason they have come out en masse to champion the bill Panetta has brought forward.

On Thursday, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan reiterated the city’s police department’s stance that its officers will not ask about immigration status and that trust was paramount for public safety because victims and witnesses needed to be able to ask for help without fear.

“They are here to protect everyone in our community and enforce our local laws, and it’s just common sense that we’re all safer when everyone feels comfortable reporting crimes and being a witness and adding to the evidence needed to prosecute those (committing crimes) in our community,” Mahan said.

San Jose Police Chief Paul Joseph echoed those comments and noted that the department already had begun to see a decline in reported incidents of domestic violence, sexual assault, and calls for service for disturbances.

Santa Clara County Assistant District Attorney Terry Harman noted that nearly half of U-visa applicants were female victims of sexual assault or domestic violence and that there had been a 50% increase in applications over the last five years. Like the San Jose Police Department and Santa Clara Sheriff’s Office, Harman said prosecutors’ primary focus was on justice, not immigration status.

“We do not want anyone who has been harmed or who has witnessed someone else being harmed to remain silent because of fear of being deported,” Harman said. “We care about people being held accountable for committing crimes against others. We care about making sure that dangerous people don’t hurt anyone else.”

While immigration reform remains a contentious issue, the potential effects on various sectors, including agriculture and medical services in underserved areas, suggest that legislation may not be voted on strictly along party lines, as evidenced by the recent introduction of bipartisan visa reform bills at the federal level.

Panetta was optimistic he could gain support for the bill, noting that in the working groups he is a part of in Washington, legislators from both sides of the aisle were already talking about developing legislation in a bipartisan fashion.

“You have numbers at the border dropping and therefore it shouldn’t be the political issue that this President has used to get into office,” Panetta said. “Therefore, it’s an opportunity to actually focus on common sense immigration reform, not just with U and T visas, but also protecting our immigrants who have been here, who contribute here, who are working here and deserve that right to stay here because of their lack of criminal record and the fact that they’re a part of this community.”

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