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    Administrator Jean's Avatar
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    Number of juveniles gaining special immigration status from federal authorities doubl

    Number of juveniles gaining special immigration status from federal authorities doubled in 2016

    May 28, 2017
    Greg Moran

    While the number of minors arrested trying to enter the U.S. illegally continues to climb each year, a little-known program that grants some of the children legal immigration status and a path to a green card has also grown rapidly.

    But that growth might be slowed, as Congress considers making changes to what’s known as the Special Immigrant Juvenile program. Legislation that would tighten eligibility is pending in the House of Representatives.

    That legislation comes as figures from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services show the number of petitions for this special status has skyrocketed in the past five years.

    In 2011, the government granted 1,869 of the petitions. Last year, the number reached 15,101, which was nearly double the 8,739 granted in 2015.

    The sharp increases are a reflection of the unprecedented surge in children — known under immigration laws as unaccompanied minors — who have flooded to the nation’s Southwest border since 2011.

    The children come from the strife-torn Central American countries of Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, as well as Mexico. Once arrested, the children are put in a legal process to be removed from the U.S. via immigration courts.

    But that can take time, so the U.S. Health and Human Services Department takes custody of the children. They are then placed with a parent, relative or guardian, though some wind up in foster care.

    Many of the children, however, can qualify for Special Immigrant Juvenile status, which involves state juvenile courts and the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services.

    To get this status, the children first go to a state juvenile or probate court, where they have to persuade a judge they are in need of protection because they have been abused, neglected or abandoned in their home country, and can’t be safely returned there.

    If the judge makes that legal finding, the minors can then file a petition with the federal government seeking an adjustment in their legal status that allows them to stay in the U.S. They also can then apply for permanent legal residency.

    It’s difficult to determine how many of these findings California judges have made, because the state does not track that data. San Diego Superior Court Judge Carolyn Caietti, who presides over the juvenile court, said the court has braced for an expected surge in applications from juveniles for the past couple of years but has not yet seen a noticeable increase.

    Supporters of the program say it is a lifesaver for children fleeing abuse and neglect or who have been abandoned. They say the number of petitions federal immigration authorities have granted has increased not only because of the surge of minors arrested at the border but also because a growing network of legal advocates are taking on the cases.

    The increase, in turn, has led to greater scrutiny by the federal government of the petitions, said Rachel Prandini, a lawyer at the Immigrant Legal Resource Center.

    “We’ve definitely seen USCIS take a much harder line in these cases,” Prandini said. The agency now often requests more evidence from the state courts, which can delay the process and lead to larger backlogs, she said. Currently, 8,500 petitions are pending review.

    Two bills pending in Congress address the Special Immigrant Juvenile process. One would change the definition of an “unaccompanied minor” to exclude juveniles who have one parent, close relative or sibling in the U.S.

    A second bill would say minors can only seek the status if a court finds they were abandoned by both parents. A 2008 change in the law said judges can find minors have been abandoned if they can’t safely be reunited with “one or both” of their parents.

    The 2008 change was meant to protect children from being sent back to a parent in their home country who had abused them. Critics said it was a loophole, allowing children who had a parent in the U.S. to gain legal status.

    Jessica Vaughan of the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for tougher immigration laws, said the Special Immigrant Juvenile program is overdue for reform.

    “This is an example of a poorly crafted law, one that failed to anticipate how it would be used,” Vaughan said. She noted the program is the only one where a state court judge makes the key decision that essentially determines the immigration status of a person. Determining immigration status in all other cases is a decision federal authorities make.

    The program’s supporters counter that judges are making a determination only on what is in the best interest of a child, a long-standing legal benchmark used by courts in child welfare cases.

    “They are not making a status determination. They are not granting a green card,” said Lenni Benson, a professor at New York Law School and executive director of the Safe Passage Project. “They are doing what Congress told them to do.”

    Data from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services show that most applications are approved. Last year, for example, the agency denied 594 petitions compared to the 15,101 that were granted.

    Even so, Benson said it is erroneous to think the program is a magnet for youths.

    “To argue that children are coming here because of that, I don’t believe is true,” she said. “We have done literally thousands of interviews of these children, and not one has said, ‘I came here because I heard you could get a Special Immigrant Juvenile visa.’”

    Meanwhile, apprehensions of unaccompanied minors continue to rise, with most occurring along the U.S.-Mexico border. Apprehensions rose each year from 2011 to 2014, peaking at 68,000 in 2014, according to data from the Department of Homeland Security. The next year the numbers dropped to 39,000, but then shot back up to 59,000 at the end of fiscal 2016.

    http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/...528-story.html
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  2. #2
    Moderator Beezer's Avatar
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    They need to be handed over to THEIR President to take care of...not US taxpayers!

    Send them all back within 24 hours of apprehension. Stop this human trafficking!
    ILLEGAL ALIENS HAVE "BROKEN" OUR IMMIGRATION SYSTEM

    DO NOT REWARD THEM - DEPORT THEM ALL

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    NO AMNESTY

    Don't reward the criminal actions of millions of illegal aliens by giving them citizenship.


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