At Long Last: Vital Protections for Immigrant Youth with Special Immigrant Juvenile Status

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

Washington, D.C., March 7, 2022—Today, the Biden administration announced long-awaited regulations that will provide clarity and certainty to children who cannot safely return to their countries of origin. These children are already recipients of a form of protection known as Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS), which is the only immigration benefit that explicitly considers children’s best interests. Despite this protection, these children often spend years in limbo, waiting for the opportunity to become lawful permanent residents due to an administrative backlog over which they have no control. 

Beginning today, children who prove that they were abused, abandoned, or neglected and who cannot safely return to a parent will no longer wake up to this incredible uncertainty. There are now clear guidelines for what comes next, including young people’s ability to support themselves and contribute to their communities and our collective well-being. 

"Uncertainty around one’s immigration status—especially for young people who must plan for the critical years of transition between childhood and adulthood without their parents—is outright stressful on one’s inner resources, not to mention outright debilitating to one’s ability to forge a path forward with access to equal opportunity. For all the young people who currently have SIJ Status, I am relieved and grateful for their ability to move beyond the fear that surrounds uncertainty. Today is a new dawn for them," said Young Center Executive Director Gladis Molina Alt.  

The Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights, which is appointed as Child Advocate to thousands of the most vulnerable children seeking protection in the United States, applauds this adjustment in federal policy. We also applaud the difficult, unrelenting work of young people who’ve stepped forward to advocate for themselves in the absence of these rules, through groups including the #EndSIJSBacklog Coalition, of which the Young Center is a member. At a time when many political actors are lashing out and attacking immigrant children, we are grateful for the administration’s willingness to extend a much-needed step toward permanency to children in immigration proceedings.

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The Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights is a non-profit organization that protects and advances the rights and best interests of immigrant children and advocates for an immigration system that treats children as children first. For press inquiries, please contact Noorjahan Akbar at media@theyoungcenter.org or 202-725-7184.