Democrats propose to simplify the issuance of green cards to minors

A group of Democrats introduced a bill to simplify immigration procedures for abandoned or abused minors. The publication spoke in more detail about this The Hill.

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The bill, led by Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-California), Zoe Lofgren (D-California), and Adriano Espaia (D-NY), will exempt children with special immigrant minor status (SIJS) from restrictions or quotas that could delay their immigration procedures.

Any children who receive SIJS status are automatically eligible to apply for a permanent residence permit, known as a green card, but the process has stalled since 2016.

The bill would essentially return the SIJS program to its pre-2016 status, allowing the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to issue green cards for vulnerable children of all ethnicities.

According to the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, SIJS minors from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras first began facing problems in the spring of 2016, and by summer, "visas ran out for children from Mexico and India."

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These delays are due to a limitation on the number of immigrants who can currently obtain a green card through SIJS and what percentage of visas will be allocated to citizens of one country.

According to DHS, eligibility for SIJS is limited to minors "who are under state law in juvenile proceedings for abuse, neglect, abandonment, or similar grounds."

To be eligible for SIJS, minors must meet three criteria: be dependent, be eligible for a foster family, and have a court decision that repatriation is not in the minor's best interests.

According to the SIJS Backlog Coalition, children from Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala already holding SIJS status have to wait two to five years to get a green card.

“This is unfair and completely preventable. Children who have already been given SIJS are trapped in a multi-year limbo that threatens their lives. And all because SIJS was incorrectly classified in the visa system. It makes no sense for these children to compete for visas with immigrants seeking employment-based status,” said Rachel Davidson, director of the End SIJS Backlog Coalition.

In 2022, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) updated program rules and announced a deferral for children with SIJS who were on the green card waiting list. This means that some applicants were issued temporary documents.

And this year, the State Department has changed the way it interprets country quotas for Central American countries, and this has increased the likelihood that some SIJS citizens from these countries will be able to avoid falling into these restrictions.

However, the process of pairing SIJS and green cards remains confusing.

According to the American Bar Association's (ABA) 2021 report, the additional hurdles signify a move away from the "defensive purpose" of SIJS.

According to the ABA, this need for protection is necessary not only in case of dangers in countries where minors are born, but also given the immigration laws of the United States.

For example, according to the ABA, one SIJS holder was repatriated to Guatemala in 2019, after receiving a court order a year earlier preventing him from being removed from the United States. As a result, he was subjected to gang violence in Guatemala.

The minor was able to return to the United States through further legal proceedings and received SIJS, but was placed on a waiting list for a green card. Lawyers for the minor filed a lawsuit to prevent a second deportation.

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“Despite the government’s approval of humanitarian assistance, Immigration and Customs Enforcement claimed that they could deport the minor again because, although he was eligible for a green card, he did not have one,” said Dalia Castillo-Granados, director of the Children’s immigration law academy.

The House bill has a companion bill in the Senate, introduced by Senator Katherine Cortes Masto.

“As public servants and public policy makers, we have no greater primary responsibility and obligation than to protect the most vulnerable among us,” said Adriano Espaillat. “We must protect our immigrant children, who are disproportionately affected by economic and safety challenges, including a lack of affordable child care, targeted crime and rising poverty rates.”

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