SR 01-24 Dated 08/01

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

INTER-DEPARTMENT COMMUNICATION

BACKGROUND

Worldwide each year, an estimated 700,000 people, primarily women and children, are "trafficked," defined in the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA) as:

·   sex trafficking in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such act has not attained 18 years of age; or

·   the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services through the use of force, fraud, or coercion, for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery.

Approximately 50,000 women and children are trafficked annually into the United States along with an unknown number of men. Traffickers force their victims into the international sex trade, prostitution, slavery and forced labor through coercion, threats of physical violence, psychological abuse, torture, and imprisonment. To deter these crimes, Congress passed and the President signed the TVPA into law in October 2000. The law aims to:

·   combat trafficking through increased law enforcement;

·   ensure effective punishment of traffickers;

·   protect victims; and

·   provide Federal and State assistance to noncitizen victims.

SUMMARY

This SR releases the following new policy in accordance with the TVPA’s goal to provide Federal and State assistance to noncitizen victims of trafficking:

·   Adult victims of severe forms of trafficking who have been "certified" by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) and meet other eligibility requirements (e.g., income levels), are eligible for 8 months of benefits and services under NH State and Federal Assistance Programs. For the 8 months indicated, noncitizen victims of trafficking are to be treated in the same manner as refugees for eligibility and benefit determinations only. The TVPA does not give victims refugee status under immigration laws and victims are not considered qualified aliens.

·   Similarly, noncitizen children who have been subjected to trafficking are also eligible for 8 months of benefits and services under NH State and Federal Programs, but do not need to be "certified" by ORR. In the same manner as adult victims, child victims are treated like refugees for eligibility and benefit determinations but are not considered refugees or qualified aliens.

The application process for noncitizen victims of trafficking will differ from other application procedures for noncitizens. Refer to the Applications and Systems Procedures section below for details.

FAM, AAM, and FSM Chapters 300 were revised to incorporate the new trafficking victim policy. Sample copies of the ORR-generated Certification Letter and "letter for children" are attached to this SR for reference. In addition, unrelated policy clarifications were also made to FAM, AAM, and FSM Chapters 300.

POLICY

Revised Family Assistance Manual Topics

Section 305.01 Definition of U.S. Citizen

Section 305.11 Eligibility for Certain Qualified Aliens

Section 305.13 Qualified Aliens Eligible Without Restriction

Revised Adult Assistance Manual Topics

PART 305 CITIZENSHIP

Section 305.09 Eligibility for Certain Qualified Aliens

Section 305.11  Qualified Aliens Eligible Without Restriction

Revised Food Stamp Manual Topics

Section 305.01 Definition of U.S. Citizen

Section 305.11 Eligibility for Certain Qualified Aliens

Section 305.13 Qualified Aliens Eligible Without Restriction

Under the TVPA, noncitizen victims of trafficking who have been certified by ORR and meet other eligibility requirements (e.g., income levels), are eligible for 8 months of benefits and services under any NH State or Federal Assistance Programs, including TANF, Medicaid, Food Stamps, Child Care, Refugee Assistance, and Healthy Kids Silver. Noncitizen children who are under 18 years old and who have been subjected to trafficking are also eligible for 8 months of benefits, but do not need to be officially certified by ORR.

For the 8 months indicated, victims of trafficking are to be treated in the same manner as refugees for eligibility and benefit determinations only. The TVPA does not give victims of trafficking refugee status under immigration laws and victims are not considered qualified aliens.

AAM 305.09 and FSM and FAM 305.11, Eligibility of Certain Qualified Aliens, were revised accordingly.

CERTIFICATION

No District Office action is required in the certification process for victims of trafficking. The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) is the only federal government agency authorized to issue certifications to victims.

Children who have been subjected to trafficking do not need to be certified in order to receive benefits. However, at this time, ORR is issuing letters, comparable to the adult Certification Letter, stating that the child is a victim of a severe form of trafficking and is therefore eligible for benefits.

Sample ORR letters for both adults and children are attached to this SR for reference. The text for both letters is similar, however please note that the adult letter is titled "Certification Letter," whereas the "letter for children" is untitled since children do not need to be certified to receive benefits.

Individuals without Certification

If District Office staff encounter an individual without certification that staff believe may meet the definition in the Act, the staff person should notify their DFA supervisor who must then call Michael Jewell at (202) 401-4561 or Neil Kromash at (202) 401-5702 for assistance.

If District Office staff encounter a child that staff believe has been subjected to trafficking, the staff person should notify their DFA supervisor who must call Loren Bussert at (202) 401-4732 for assistance.

APPLICATION AND SYSTEMS PROCEDURES

Although there are currently no known victims of trafficking in NH, and it is expected that very few individuals will apply for assistance in NH using this status, when a victim of trafficking applies for benefits, follow current procedures for refugee applicants with the following changes:

·   Accept the original Certification Letter (or "letter for children") in place of INS documentation. Victims of severe forms of trafficking do not need to provide any other documentation of their immigration status.

·   Call the trafficking verification hotline at (202) 401-5510 to confirm the validity of the Certification Letter (or "letter for children"), and to notify ORR of the benefits for which the individual has applied.

 Note: At this time, SAVE does not contain information about victims of severe forms of trafficking. Until further notice, do not request SAVE verification to confirm eligibility for benefits for victims of severe forms of trafficking.

·   Enter the trafficking victim’s information into New HEIGHTS in the following manner. On the Alien/Refugees Details screen, enter:

-   "Legal Permanent" from the "Legal Status" drop-down menu;

-   "Not Required" from the "Sponsor: Is there a sponsor for this alien?" drop-down menu;

-   the individual's ORR "certification eligibility date," as the "US Entry Date." The ORR "certification eligibility date" is located in the body of the ORR-generated Certification Letter or "letter for children;"

-   "Refugee" from the "Alien/Refugee Status Information" drop-down menu;

-   the "expiration date" found in the text of the ORR-generated Certification Letter or "letter for children" into the "Expiration Date" field located in the "Alien/Refugee Status Information" box. The length of the time between the "U.S. Entry Date" entered above and the "Expiration Date" must not exceed 8 months; and

-   an explanation that the individual is a victim of trafficking in "Maintain Case/Indv Comments" in the "Caseload Management" folder.

·   Run SFU and EDBC.

 Note: Some victims of trafficking may not yet have or may not be able to obtain social security numbers for work purposes. District Office Staff must assist these individuals in obtaining non-work social security numbers and may not delay, deny, or discontinue assistance pending the issuance of their social security numbers. In addition, many victims of trafficking will not yet possess standard identity documents, such as driver's licenses. If difficulties are experienced in confirming identity in these cases, do not automatically deny the application. Notify your DFA supervisor who must then call the trafficking verification hotline at (202) 401-5510 for assistance.

·   Manually override program eligibility redeterminations/recertifications and schedule the next redetermination in the 8th month, to coincide with the expiration of the ORR certification.

 Note: ORR certifies victims of trafficking for 8-month periods. However, once the 8 months have passed, ORR will issue follow-up Certification Letters or "letters for children" if the individual continues to meet ORR certification requirements. If an adult victim of trafficking no longer meets ORR certification requirements at the 8-month redetermination, ORR will not issue a follow-up Certification Letter and the individual will no longer be eligible for benefits under these special provisions, although the individual may then be eligible for continued benefits or services under another status.

UNRELATED POLICY CLARIFICATIONS

Minor editing and repositioning of text have been made to Parts 305 in the Family Assistance (FAM), Food Stamp (FSM) and Adult Assistance (AAM) Manuals to enhance readability and the logical flow of citizenship policy. Clarifications and corrections include the following:

·   The exception describing program eligibility status for American Indians in FAM Section 305.01, Definition of U.S. Citizen, and in AAM Part 305, CITIZENSHIP, was removed and added to FAM Section 305.11, and AAM Section 305.09, Eligibility for Certain Qualified Aliens. Similarly, the exception describing program eligibility status for American Indians and Hmong or Highland Laotian Tribe Members was removed from FSM Section 305.01, Definition of U.S. Citizen, and added to FSM Section 305.11, Eligibility for Certain Qualified Aliens. Moving this text to its new location improves the logical flow of citizenship and alien eligibility policy in all three manuals.

·   The last sentence of the relocated American Indian text described above was removed for clarity. The sentence contained a brief list of tribes as an example of the numerous tribes that meet both the federal definition of "Indian Tribe" and the 50% Native American blood requirement. However, the text could also be read to mean that only the tribes listed met the specified criteria, therefore the text was removed to alleviate confusion.

·   Based on the changes made above, the link in AAM 305.11 and FAM and FSM Sections 305.13, Qualified Aliens Eligible Without Restriction, was corrected to refer to AAM Section 305.09 and FAM and FSM Sections 305.11, Eligibility for Certain Qualified Aliens.

IMPLEMENTATION

All policy related to victims of trafficking is retroactively effective to October 1, 2000.

ORR implemented the use of the Certification Letter for adults and the "letter for children" effective May 1, 2001. As reproduction and distribution of the letters are the responsibility of ORR, no distribution will be made to District Offices.

All other policy released by this SR is effective as of August 1, 2001.

CLIENT NOTIFICATION

No special client notification is planned or necessary.

TRAINING

No training is planned.

POSTING INSTRUCTIONS

DISPOSITION

It is recommended that this SR be retained and posted for future reference.

DISTRIBUTION

This SR will be distributed according to the electronic distribution list for Division of Family Assistance policy releases. This SR, and revised On-Line Manuals, will be available for agency staff in the On-Line Manual Library, and for public access on the Internet at http://www.dhhs.state.nh.us/PMIndex.htm, effective August 1, 2001.

This SR, and printed pages with posting instructions, will be distributed under separate cover to all hard copy holders of the Family Assistance, Adult Assistance, Food Stamp, and Forms manuals.

DFA/JBV:s