Attorneys sue to restore deportation protections for abused and neglected migrant children
The lawsuit, filed in the Eastern District of New York, was filed on behalf of nine young people and their legal advocates who want a judge to keep the protections for up to nearly 150,000 beneficiaries.
'These young people have survived abuse, abandonment, and neglect only to be retraumatized now by the constant threat of detention and deportation from the same agencies that vowed to keep them safe," said Rachel Davidson, plaintiff attorney with the National Immigration Project.
The Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services were both named in the lawsuit. USCIS Spokesman Matthew J. Tragesser said, 'As a matter of practice, USCIS does not comment on pending litigation.' DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Migrant children who suffered parental abuse, neglect or abandonment are designated through state courts and the federal government with Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, which was created by Congress in 1990 with bipartisan support.
SIJS, as it is known, does not grant legal status. But it lets qualifying young people apply for a visa to become legal permanent residents and obtain a work permit. It can take years for a visa to become available due to annual caps. In 2022, the Biden administration allowed children to be shielded from deportation while waiting for a visa.
In June, the Trump administration ended deportation protection for SIJS beneficiaries. Without it, they can still wait in the U.S. for a visa but cannot receive work authorization. And if they are deported while they are waiting, they will no longer be eligible to become legal permanent residents.
Though overshadowed by higher-profile moves to end birthright citizenship and halt asylum at the border, the policy shift is part of President Donald Trump 's sweeping immigration system overhaul intended to make it more difficult for people to legally remain in the U.S.
A Guatemalan teen who is living in New York and living with her older brother is one of the plaintiffs. She said through attorneys, who omit using the names of minors, that her dreams of becoming an astronaut one day may be cut short if she's unable to continue high school for fear of deportation.
'I felt that I was finally in a safe environment, but if I had to return to (Guatemala), I would be very afraid of the violence and abuse from my mother and father,' she said in a statement shared by the attorneys without her name.
The policy shift may shut down a legal pathway to possible citizenship for nearly 150,000 migrants who attorneys estimate have received this classification and are stuck in the visa backlog.
It could keep them from obtaining Social Security cards, driver's licenses, medical treatment, health insurance, higher education, bank accounts, and, for older youth, legal and safe employment opportunities.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Reuters
11 minutes ago
- Reuters
US agencies pause effort to block immigrant social services in states that sued
NEW YORK, July 25 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's administration agreed on Friday to pause efforts to block immigrants who are living in the U.S. illegally from accessing certain federally funded social services in 20 Democratic-led states that sued over the policy changes. The U.S. Departments of Justice, Health and Human Services, Education, and Labor agreed to wait until at least September 3 to enforce the changes that affect programs providing early childhood education, food and healthcare. The agencies also agreed not to enforce the changes retroactively in New York, California, Illinois, or the other states that sued, according to an agreement filed in Rhode Island federal court, where the states had filed their lawsuit. New York Attorney General Letitia James said the agreement preserves social services "that millions of New Yorkers rely on to survive." "These policy changes threaten essential lifelines like health care, education, and nutrition assistance programs for hardworking families in New York and nationwide," James said in a statement. "My office will continue to fight for these programs and services on behalf of all who need them." The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. More than 20 Democratic attorneys general had sued on Monday arguing that the policies, which implement an immigration-focused executive order from Trump, are unconstitutional and that the Republican president issued them without following the required federal rulemaking process. The policy changes require programs to check participants' immigration status before giving access to essential public services like Head Start, Meals on Wheels, child welfare programs, domestic violence shelters, housing assistance, mental health treatment, food banks, and community health centers. The states said the directives threatened to pull federal funding from states and could force some programs to shutter altogether. The requirements went into effect almost immediately after the directives were issued, leaving the programs scrambling to find ways to comply so they can stay open, the states said. States have always needed to verify a person's lawful immigration status before allowing them to access certain federal programs, like Medicaid. But federal agencies have previously taken the position that states did not have to verify immigration status for some programs, like soup kitchens, homeless shelters, and crisis counseling centers, that received federal funding but were intended to be "open to all," according to the lawsuit.
Reuters
11 minutes ago
- Reuters
Kennedy to oust care task force, WSJ reports; HHS says no decision yet
WASHINGTON, July 25 (Reuters) - U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is planning to remove all the members of an advisory panel that determines what cancer screenings and other preventive health measures insurers must cover, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. A Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson said on Friday that Kennedy had not yet made a decision regarding the 16-member U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. "No final decision has been made on how the USPSTF can better support HHS' mandate to Make America Healthy Again," the HHS spokesperson said. The Journal said Kennedy planned to dismiss all 16 panel members in what would be the latest in a series of far-reaching actions by Kennedy, a long-time vaccine skeptic, to reshape U.S. regulation of vaccines, food and medicine. In June he fired all 17 members of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, a panel of vaccine experts, replacing them with seven handpicked members, including known vaccine skeptics. The USPSTF includes medical experts serving staggered four-year terms on a volunteer basis. Its role in choosing what services will be covered by insurers was established under the 2010 Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. The 40-year-old group, whose recommendations provide guidance to doctors, looks at everything from routine breast cancer screening to drugs to prevent HIV infection. The U.S. Supreme Court in June upheld the constitution of the task force and ruled in favor of its recommendation to cover preventive care. Though made up of an independent group of volunteer experts, members are selected by the health secretary without Senate confirmation and it relies on support from the department's Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. A group of 104 health organizations, opens new tab, including the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics, in early July sent a letter to Congressional health committees, urging them "to protect the integrity" of the task force. The task force has been criticized by some conservatives, opens new tab as too left-leaning.
Reuters
11 minutes ago
- Reuters
US government says Virginia school gender policies unlawful
July 25 (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Education on Friday said five school districts in Democratic-leaning northern Virginia were violating federal law by allowing transgender students to use bathrooms and other facilities matching their gender identity. The agency gave the districts which educate about a third of Virginia's public school students, 10 days to agree with its findings or face possible "enforcement actions" by the Department of Justice, the education department said in a statement. The department's action followed an investigation into the districts based on a complaint by the conservative America First Legal Foundation, whose founder is senior White House aide Stephen Miller. "It's time for northern Virginia's experiment with radical gender ideology and unlawful discrimination to come to an end," Craig Trainor, a civil rights official at the education department, said in the statement. In a series of executive orders, Republican President Donald Trump has banned transgender people from serving in the military, barred transgender girls and women from competing in female sports and ordered an end to federal funding for school programs that include 'gender ideology.' Prince William County Public Schools, one of the five districts named, said on its website it was reviewing the agency's conclusions. It and another of the districts, Alexandria City Public Schools, issued separate similar statements saying they were committed to providing safe learning environments for all students. Arlington Public Schools, Fairfax County Public Schools and Loudoun County Public Schools did not immediately respond to requests for comment. LGBTQ advocacy group GLAAD, which monitors Trump's administration, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Virginia's Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin has fought to abolish policies at school districts in largely Democratic areas that allow transgender people to be treated according to their gender identity. In a statement, Youngkin said the education department's findings showed "commonsense is back." Among other actions, the education department called on the five school districts to "voluntarily agree" to tell schools that bathroom-access policies must separate students on the basis of sex at birth. Separately, a complaint by another conservative think tank has triggered a U.S. Education Department investigation into Oregon schools for allowing transgender girls to compete in female-only sporting events. The America First Policy Institute, whose former chair is Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, alleged Oregon's Department of Education prohibited schools from excluding transgender athletes, violating federal sex discrimination laws, the federal agency said in a statement. The organization applauded the probe announced on Friday, with executive general counsel Jessica Hart Steinmann saying it was "a vital step toward restoring equal opportunity in women's athletics." Supporters of Trump's ban on transgender girls from female sports believe the action restores fairness. LGBTQ+ advocates say transgender athletes comprise a small minority of school athletes and bans on their participation further stigmatize a vulnerable population. A spokesperson for the Oregon Department of Education declined to comment, citing ongoing litigation filed against the agency by parents of female student athletes.
