BY NBC NEWS
According to a new study of government statistics by advocacy organizations that was given exclusively to NBC News,
The backlog of cases involving young immigrants who have been mistreated or abandoned and are seeking green cards has more than quadrupled in the past two years.
In a study issued on Monday, the End SIJS Backlog Coalition and Tulane Law School’s Immigrant Rights Clinic said that over 100,000 young people who were born outside of the country and have been granted “special immigrant juvenile” status—which provides them with a road to permanent residency—are awaiting green cards. According to the groups, that number is higher than the approximately 45,000 from 2021.
According to the legislation, minors who have been “abused, abandoned, or neglected by a parent” and are under 21 years old may qualify for special immigrant juvenile status. A green card, or legal permanent residence, may be applied for automatically by those who are designated.
Co-author of the research and co-director of Tulane Law’s Immigrant Rights Clinic Laila Hlass stated, “Congress created this protection to really improve the lives of vulnerable immigrant children, and it’s not really working in the way it was supposed to.” “In fact, because of these waiting periods, it frequently makes the lives of children more uncertain.”
Based on information obtained from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services through a Freedom of Information Act request and subsequent litigation, the report claims that as of March 1, more than 107,000 youth from 151 countries “are trapped in a legal limbo, unable to obtain permanent protection even after being granted humanitarian status.” Although their application for special immigrant juvenile status has been granted, the young people in the study are unable to get green cards.green cards
“They will need to wait a significant amount of time, perhaps even five years or longer, before they can pursue permanent residence through the issuance of a green card,” Hlass said.
According to the advocacy organizations, many fear deportation in the absence of the safeguards of legal permanent residence and are unable to access government health care programs or school assistance.green cards
A Georgian immigrant with SIJ status who has been waiting for a green card for a year and a half said he is starting to lose faith that he would ever be able to live in the country legally.
“At present, I am 22 years old, and all of my plans have been postponed indefinitely,” said the young man, who requested to remain anonymous due to concerns about potential retaliation in his immigration case.green cards
He fled his physically abusive father and bigotry against him for being an LGBTQ person before coming to the United States. He said that after taking part in a Pride march, he was hospitalized and assaulted just before traveling to the United States.
“It feels like I escaped a lot of my issues with being accepted for who I was and all I had to go through with my family, but now I’m facing new, bigger issues,” the guy said. “It’s still excessive.”green cards
The immigrant rights organizations are requesting that Congress take steps to expedite the processing of green card applications for young immigrants and that immigration officials decide matters pertaining to individuals asking for special status within a 180-day period.
On its website, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services states that although it “generally” considers requests for SIJ classification in 180 days, the same time period “does not apply” when determining whether to grant a green card based on SIJ status.
Prior to the report’s publication on Friday, USCIS did not promptly reply to a request for comment about the persistent backlog. A request for comment about the report’s conclusions was not immediately answered by the agency on Monday.green cards
According to the research by immigrant rights organizations, young people encounter two obstacles: first, getting their SIJ petitions authorized; second, seeking for legal permanent residence based on their status.
The research said that over the previous five years, the average wait for USCIS to accept a SIJS petition was 337 days, which is almost double the 180-day legal limit for decision-making.
“While an improvement, the average time taken by USCIS to approve a case in the 2023 fiscal year is still 263 days, which is in violation of the law,” the study said.
The study said that even if youngsters are granted SIJ status, “they will then have to wait years to be eligible to seek” legal permanent residence, and that the approval process for such cases by USCIS “often takes years.”
The activists claim that the program’s yearly cap on the number of green cards that USCIS may grant—which is based on nationality—is the cause of the backlog. The EB-4 visa for “special immigrants,” which also covers religious workers, active and retired U.S. government personnel stationed overseas, and certain officials and staff members of international organizations, is what SIJ status comes under.
Director of the End SIJS Backlog Coalition and co-author of the study Rachel Davidson stated, “These kids are now competing for visas with other folks who are coming to this country seeking work-related status, and that makes no sense for humanitarian protection to be in that same category.”green cards
According to the research, since 2016, this has disproportionately impacted young people from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. The State Department revised its understanding of the visa limitations for six Central American nations with a regulation it released in late March.
Additionally, the Biden administration unveiled new guidelines in 2022 that are meant to facilitate the continued residency and employment of those with SIJ status in the nation while their cases are being processed.
While supporters applaud the reforms, they feel that they do not go far enough. As a result, they are urging Congress to remove the SIJ status from the employment-based system’s visa cap.
Davidson said, “This is a completely solvable issue.”
A measure to “eliminate employment-based visa caps on abused, abandoned, and neglected children eligible for humanitarian status, and for other purposes” was proposed by congressional Democrats in June.
Reps. Adriano Espaillat of New York and Zoe Lofgren and Jimmy Gomez of California are the bill’s sponsors in the House.green cards
Gomez said NBC News in a statement on Friday, “I cannot stand by while vulnerable immigrant children are left behind because of an administrative backlog.” “Homelessness, wage theft, human trafficking, and deportation are disproportionately likely outcomes for immigrant children and teens who have experienced abuse, neglect, or abandonment.”
According to Gomez, the measure would allow young, at-risk immigrants to begin their lives in the United States and earn a livable salary by “cutting through red tape in the visa backlog.”green cards
The House of Representatives, commanded by the Republican Party, has not yet taken up the issue.
