New Research Reveals Inside Story of Vulnerable Immigrant Children Seeking Protection in U.S.

A new article is out now from Laila Hlass, Rachel Davidson and myself examines 10 years of data on immigrant youth seeking Special Immigrant Juvenile Status.

In our new article, "The Double Exclusion of Immigrant Youth", Laila Hlass, Rachel Davidson, and I find that a humanitarian program intended to help children who have been abandoned, abused, or neglected, often makes their lives more uncertain.

Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) was created by Congress in 1990 to protect vulnerable children from deportation by providing a pathway to lawful permanent residency and citizenship. SIJS applications were low at first but grew over the past decade.

To be eligible for SIJS, a state judge must first find that a child has been abandoned, abused, or neglected. Once a judge makes a finding, the child files an I-360 petition to be recognized for SIJS and then files an I-485 application for permanent residence.

To be eligible for SIJS, a state judge must first find that a child has been abandoned, abused, or neglected. Once a judge makes a finding, the child files an I-360 petition to be recognized for SIJS and then files an I-485 application for permanent residence.

The process should be straightforward. But using data obtained through FOIA litigation that the agency didn't want to share, we found that USCIS created barriers for children and politicized the SIJS process, especially during the Trump administration.

Even worse, thousands of children are waiting in the SIJS backlog each month – even though they are approved (or likely to be) – simply because Congress fails to allot visas. These children live precarious lives: no longer children yet unable to move into independent adulthood.

SIJS petitions (I-360s) and lawful permanent resident applications (I-485s) have both grown over the past decade - as have denials. During the Trump administration in 2017 and 2018 - see figure (c) - USCIS almost stopped processing new SIJS petitions and instead focused on denials.

Two types of bureaucratic barriers – notices of intent to deny (NOID) and requests for evidence (RFE) – also fluctuate over time. RFEs and NOIDs were rare prior to the Trump administration, but increased 2017–2020.

Who gets SIJS and who is denied? Nationality plays a role here. At both stages of the SIJS process, applicants from India, Bangladesh, and Nigeria see higher rates of denial. (I-360s should typically approved since there should by little or no discretion at this stage.)

Children who have a pending deportation case in court face much higher SIJS rates of denial than those children not in court. Should children who have been abandoned, abused, or neglected even be in immigration court in the first place?

Children's precarity isn't just about approval/denial, it's also about how long it takes to get an answer. Congress gave USCIS 180 days to process these petitions. Since 2017, USCIS has blown past the law. RFEs add considerable delays.

The SIJS backlog (measured here in 6-mo increments) also grew during the Trump administration. It declined in 2021 BUT based on new unpublished data), the backlog shot up again more recently.

What can be done?

Policy Recommendations

1. We must ensure that children get attorneys. Representation matters.

2. We must abolish the SIJS backlog. No approved child should be in limbo.

3. We shouldn't have to fight to get this data. Transparency now.

4. Follow End SIJS Backlog Coalition on Twitter or visit their website for more information.

Research Recommendations

• Immigrant youth are often left out of migration studies scholarship: treated as secondary to adults or imagined as one-dimensional victims. Children's voices matter and we need to do a better job of including them in academic research.

"The Double Exclusion of Immigrant Youth" will be out soon from Georgetown Law Journal but is available now on SSRN by clicking below.

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