A California district court approved a settlement in a case that provides protections to unaccompanied minors whom the Department of Homeland Security seeks to re-arrest based on gang allegations. The settlement also provides protections for class members whose applications for Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, or SIJS, asylum, U and T visas were denied based on gang allegations. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services recently announced new guidance on SIJS applications in the USCIS Policy Manual to implement selected provisions in the settlement.

On November 19, 2019, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced changes to its Policy Manual section on Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) petitions. The changes are effective immediately and apply to cases pending on, and filed on or after, November 19, 2019. This resource briefly summarizes some of the key changes and contains a chart comparing the current version with the previous Policy Manual section on SIJS.

CLINIC has asked SIJ experts in MD and NY to draft affidavits describing in detail their respective state laws expanding state “juvenile” court jurisdiction from 18 to the age of 20. Advocates should use these affidavits in a creative manner including submission to USCIS in response to Requests for Further Evidence (RFE) or to Immigration Judge to request release from custody. As SIJ-eligible unaccompanied minors face hurdles to release following the February 21, 2017 DHS Border Security Memo, advocates should also consider using these affidavits for those under 18 years of age.