ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – Antonio Chairez Rios, a Mexican national who has lived in Albuquerque for more than 20 years, is now suing the Trump Administration, claiming federal immigration agencies have unlawfully delayed his T-Visa application for over a year.
Story continues below
- Trending: Silver City mother, daughter charged with fraud and theft in Medicaid scheme
- Events: What’s happening in New Mexico August 15-21?
- News: Village of Los Lunas breaks ground on $185 million I-25 interchange project
- NM Strange: The Roswell Incident: A spaceship crash, a military cover-up, or a Russian psyop?
Rios applied for the visa in August 2024, asserting he is a survivor of labor trafficking while working in the New Mexico construction industry. The T-Visa was created to offer legal status and protection to victims of human trafficking. “It is our contention that he does qualify for that form of relief. However, due to the long delay by USCIS — the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services — he is facing removal from the United States,” said Rios’ attorney Rebecca Kitson.
She noted that if Rios is deported, he would lose his ability to re-enter the country for many years and would likely never be able to reapply for a T-Visa.
Rios has deep ties to New Mexico. He is a grandfather and was the sole guardian of his children. He claims he was trafficked by his former employer, Casa Construction LLC, between 2006 and 2011. In January 2011, Rios sustained near-fatal injuries while working under what he describes as dangerous and unreasonable conditions to meet a rushed construction deadline. He continues to suffer long-term health issues from the incident.
According to his attorneys, USCIS has failed to issue what’s known as a Bona Fide Determination of Rios’s application — a preliminary step that confirms the application is complete and meets the basic eligibility requirements, including a personal statement and background checks. “We’re not asking the Citizen and Immigration Services Agency to adjudicate his full T-Visa; we’re just simply asking them to give him this initial adjudication, which the Department of Homeland Security has said takes on average 90 days,” said attorney Alejandro Macias.
Rios’s legal team said he has complied with all requirements — including regular check-ins with ICE — but argues the federal government has far exceeded reasonable timelines, which they said violates federal law. “Agencies are required under the Administrative Procedures Act to do their job, to complete the adjudication of applications. The agencies exist to process these applications, and their failure to do so is a violation of that law,” said Kitson.
Kitson and Macias said they’ve exhausted all other options to prompt action from USCIS, including requests for expedited review and receiving congressional assistance from Democratic U.S. Senator Ben Ray Luján. “Unfortunately, those requests have been denied or ignored, and now we’re forced to file this lawsuit for him,” said Macias.
Meanwhile, Rios has been told by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that he will be deported next month unless he can prove that USCIS has issued a Bona Fide Determination of his T-Visa application. “He deserves the time and the opportunity to be heard in his application, but of course, what we’ve seen under this administration is the tactic is to simply remove somebody so that you don’t have to defend your actions in front of a court of law,” said Kitson.
His attorneys argued that this case reflects a broader pattern under recent Trump-era policies of targeting immigrants who are applying for status lawfully. “In the complaint, we do mention the Trump Administration, at the end of May, has called for more deportation in the U.S… Coincidentally, a week afterwards, Antonio was called in for his ICE check-in,” said Macias.
At that June 6 check-in, Rios was notified he’ll be facing removal by his next check-in, which is on September 18, if he doesn’t have proof of his T-Visa Bona Fide Certification.
Kitson and Macias also said policies like these discourage survivors of trafficking from coming forward. “Essentially, what we’re seeing is that those people who apply for relief in the United States, who are trying to regularize their status, who are trying to make it right and do the right thing, are also subject to arrest and immigration proceedings because they’re the ones that come forward. They’re low-hanging fruit,” said Kitson.
Kitson said the intent of Congress has long been to protect human trafficking victims and ensure they feel safe coming forward.
Macias noted that a 2021 directive requiring ICE agents to coordinate with other federal agencies to identify potential trafficking victims was rescinded in March of this year. “The message is clear to victims of human trafficking, to victims of domestic violence, to those who are facing persecution in their home countries: If due process is denied for these individuals, it means the U.S. no longer honors or respects the protections of people in those contexts,” said Kitson.
Rios’s attorneys said the best-case scenario is a settlement with the Assistant U.S. Attorney, which could prompt a Bona Fide Determination and potentially lead to a stay of deportation while his full T-Visa application is reviewed.
Macias said cases like this are becoming increasingly common. “We know other people are also having to file these lawsuits just to get the protections the Trafficking Victims Protection Act was meant to provide them,” said Macias.
As it stands, no court date has been set in Rios’s case. He is currently required to wear an ankle monitor and is scheduled for another ICE check-in on September 18.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
