TCVAP

TCVAP

The Trafficking and Crime Victims Assistance Program (TCVAP) provides culturally sensitive and linguistically appropriate programs and services to assist eligible non-citizen victims of trafficking and domestic violence in fulfilling their immediate needs, getting the skills needed for finding employment and gaining economic independence as quickly as possible.

The overall goal of TCVAP is to provide services to crime victims through case management and collaborative work with other local, state, and federal agencies to stabilize their living environment and recover from abuse.

Applicants who are eligible can receive benefits equivalent to those available to refugees including those listed below:

• Refugee Cash Assistance (RCA)
• CalWORKs
• CalFresh
• Medi-Cal
• Cash Assistance Program for Immigrants (CAPI)
• In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS)
• Intensive case management
• Employment Services
• Supportive Services (such as child care, transportation etc.)

Eligible Population

The federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 established human trafficking as a federal crime and created two nonimmigrant visas: the T Visa for victims of human trafficking; and the U Visa for victims of domestic violence and other serious crimes.

The non-citizen victims of human trafficking, domestic violence, and other serious crimes definitions are described below:

• Trafficking
  • Sex trafficking – The recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, obtaining, patronizing, or soliciting of a person for the purposes of a commercial sex act, in which the commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or pressure, or in which the person induced to perform such an act has not attained 18 years of age. Sex trafficking has been found in a wide variety of settings within the sex industry, including residential brothels, escort services, fake massage businesses, strip clubs, and street prostitution.
  • Labor trafficking – The recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the using of force, fraud, or pressure for the purposes of subjection to debt bondage, or slavery. Labor trafficking has been found in diverse labor settings including, domestic work, small businesses, large farms, and factories.
• Domestic violence – A victim of domestic violence or other serious crimes must meet the same eligibility criteria as those used for the TCVAP.
• Other serious crimes:
  • Have suffered substantial physical or mental abuse as a result of having been victims of criminal activity involving, or similar to, the following violations: rape; torture; trafficking; incest; domestic violence; sexual assault; abusive sexual contact; prostitution; sexual exploitation; female genital mutilation; being held hostage; peonage; involuntary servitude; slave trade; kidnapping; abduction; unlawful criminal restraint; false imprisonment; blackmail; extortion; manslaughter; murder; felonious assault; witness tampering; obstruction of justice; perjury; or attempt; conspiracy or solicitation to commit any of the above mentioned crimes.
  • Possess information concerning criminal activity (or in the case of an alien child under the age of 16, the parent, guardian, or adult representing the child).
  • Have been helpful or likely to be helpful to a federal, state, or local law enforcement official, prosecutor, or judge or to other federal, state, or local authorities investigating or prosecuting criminal activities described above (or in the case of an alien child under the age of 16, the parent, guardian, or adult representative of the alien is helpful).

To apply for TCVAP services, please visit an Alameda County Social Services Agency office or apply online at visit www.benefitscal.com.

Language Interpretation: SSA has free language interpretation services available.  When you contact us, please let us know your language preference.