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Trump Sued by Immigrant Youth Over Deportation Risk
Trump Sued by Immigrant Youth Over Deportation Risk

Time​ Magazine

time4 days ago

  • Politics
  • Time​ Magazine

Trump Sued by Immigrant Youth Over Deportation Risk

Immigrant youths who have suffered abuse, neglect, or abandonment sued the Trump Administration on Thursday for ending a policy that protected them from deportation and enabled them to work legally in the U.S. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced last month that it would no longer grant young immigrants with Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) a classification that offered those protections, after quietly ceasing to do so earlier in the year. The plaintiffs and others with SIJS, a pathway to legal residency given to youth who arrive in the U.S. under the age of 21 and have been abused, neglected, or abandoned by a parent, were granted a status known as deferred action under a Biden-era policy. Immigration backlogs can last for years because of limits on the number of green cards USCIS can grant per year, often making changes in immigration status a lengthy process. But under the 2022 policy, SIJS recipients were automatically eligible for deferred action, allowing them to legally work in the U.S. and protecting them from deportation until they were able to adjust their status. Beginning in April, however, USCIS began neither approving or denying SIJS recipients' work permit applications. The agency issued a policy alert months later stating that it would no longer be granting deferred action for undocumented immigrants with SIJS status. Now, a coalition of immigrant youths with the status is asking that the 2022 policy be reinstated. The lawsuit seeks class-action status to sue on behalf of the broader group of people impacted by the Trump Administration's policy change. 'The proposed class are people who have a legal path to apply for a permanent resident visa that Congress created. And while they're here, they were under the deferred action policy, able to support themselves,' John Magliery, a partner at Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, a law firm representing plaintiffs in the suit, tells TIME. 'This puts them in a precarious position and also puts additional burdens on other social safety nets that they might be able to avoid if they could support themselves.' USCIS spokesman Matthew J. Tragesser told TIME in a statement that the agency 'does not comment on pending litigation' as a 'matter of practice.' The policy change impacts both newly accepted SIJS recipients and those who have already received deferred action and are due for renewal. More than 100,000 SIJS recipients were awaiting their green card as of 2023, according to a report by the End SIJS Backlog coalition. Recipients come from 151 countries and live in every U.S. state, with the highest numbers in New York, California, and Maryland. Attorneys for the plaintiffs—who have expressed desires to be astronauts, lawyers, and medical professionals, according to the legal complaint—say that SIJS recipients have expressed serious fear that they could be uprooted from their home to the U.S. Nineteen lawmakers sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in June asking for clarification about the changing policy, citing concerns due to 'reports from practitioners of increased occurrences of detention and deportation of SIJS recipients.' The young immigrants are joined by The Central American Refugee Center and Centro Legal de la Raza in their lawsuit against the Trump Administration. 'The government has said, 'We agree that you should not return to your country. It's not safe for you there,'' says Rachel Davidson, director of the End SIJS Backlog Coalition at the National Immigration Project. 'They've been granted a pathway to that protection, and they deserve it.'

Attorneys sue to restore deportation protections for abused and neglected migrant children

time5 days ago

  • Politics

Attorneys sue to restore deportation protections for abused and neglected migrant children

Attorneys representing migrant children who were abused, neglected or abandoned by a parent asked a federal court on Thursday to restore their deportation protections after the Trump administration ended them. 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.

Attorneys sue to restore deportation protections for abused and neglected migrant children
Attorneys sue to restore deportation protections for abused and neglected migrant children

San Francisco Chronicle​

time5 days ago

  • Politics
  • San Francisco Chronicle​

Attorneys sue to restore deportation protections for abused and neglected migrant children

Attorneys representing migrant children who were abused, neglected or abandoned by a parent asked a federal court on Thursday to restore their deportation protections after the Trump administration ended them. 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. 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.

Attorneys sue to restore deportation protections for abused and neglected migrant children
Attorneys sue to restore deportation protections for abused and neglected migrant children

Winnipeg Free Press

time5 days ago

  • Politics
  • Winnipeg Free Press

Attorneys sue to restore deportation protections for abused and neglected migrant children

Attorneys representing migrant children who were abused, neglected or abandoned by a parent asked a federal court on Thursday to restore their deportation protections after the Trump administration ended them. 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.

Attorneys sue to restore deportation protections for abused and neglected migrant children
Attorneys sue to restore deportation protections for abused and neglected migrant children

The Independent

time5 days ago

  • Politics
  • The Independent

Attorneys sue to restore deportation protections for abused and neglected migrant children

Attorneys representing migrant children who were abused, neglected or abandoned by a parent asked a federal court on Thursday to restore their deportation protections after the Trump administration ended them. 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.

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