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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) must process petitions from juvenile immigrants who have been abandoned by their parents within 180 days, according to a recent ruling by a Washington federal judge.
USCIS was hit with a class action lawsuit over its handling of immigrant applications from those aged 18 to 21 who have been abandoned or abused by their parents.
The complaint, filed by the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, alleges that this group is entitled to Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS), providing them with an option for permanent residency; however, a new USCIS policy resulted in the arbitrary denial of SIJIS applications, as well as excessive delays in the program.
According to the complaint, the new policy implemented by USCIS required state courts to have the power to reunite applicants with their parents.
Purportedly, this requirement was added so the state court could make the finding that reunification was not possible for SIJS applicants. However, under separate laws, some state courts do not have jurisdiction to reunite SIJS applicants with their parents, the class action lawsuit alleged.
The plaintiffs claimed USCIS was using this new policy to unreasonably delay and deny applications from SIJS candidates.
They pointed out that prior to the policy change, a state court finding that reunification was not possible was generally accepted by the agency. Under the new policy, the plaintiffs and proposed Class Members were allegedly facing delays in their applications and even deportation.
The class action lawsuit was originally filed in March 2019 and was certified in July of that year.
In a recent ruling granting the plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment, as well as an injunction against the implementation of USCIS’ policy, U.S. District Court Judge Robert S. Lasnik found that the class action lawsuit would likely be successful at trial.
In addition, Judge Lasnik ordered the agency to begin processing SIJS applications within 180 days of receipt.
“[T]he proposed rule is inconsistent with the governing statute (and/or involves an unreasonable interpretation of the word ‘filed’), and defendants offer no evidence suggesting that SIJ petitions are factually or legally complex or otherwise require more than 180 days to review, investigate and adjudicate,” Judge Lasnik stated in his order.
The order also says the injunction is necessary to avoid further harm to SIJS applicants.
“Plaintiffs provided evidence of their stress, devastation, fear and depression arising from the increased possibility that they will be placed in removal proceedings and/or deported before obtaining an SIJ designation,” Judge Lasnik said. “Such emotional and psychological harms will not be remedied by an award of damages and are, therefore, irreparable.”
For its part, the agency argued that it was processing applications in a timely manner; however, the judge disagreed with how the agency was determining when an SIJS application was filed.
“If the agency decides the petition is complete, it is deemed filed — and the 180-day clock began to run — on the date it was received by the agency,” points out the order. “If, however, the agency decides the petition is incomplete for some reason, the petition has not yet been ‘filed’ and the 180-day clock will not begin to count down until the petitioner responds to the agency’s request for additional information.”
Judge Lasnik also noted that the immigration agency appeared to believe it could stop the 180-day deadline whenever it felt more information would be helpful; however, failing to start and stopping and restarting the process were not what Congress intended when it enacted the SJIS program, the judge found.
“The Court finds that the agency’s redefinition of ‘filed’ to authorize delays Congress proscribed is not reasonable in light of the statutory text and its legislative purpose,” the order states.
USCIS also argued the lawsuit should be considered moot because USCIS had voluntarily changed its policy in 2019. The judge disagreed, noting there was nothing stopping the agency from changing its policy back again.
“Because USCIS is ‘free to return to [its] old ways’… and seemingly made the policy change only because it was forced to do so under various court orders and the resource strain of litigation, plaintiffs’ claims regarding the reunification requirement are not moot,” the order concluded.
Have you or a loved one been affected by delays or deportation in immigration proceedings? What do you think of the class action lawsuit claims? Tell us in the comment section below.
The plaintiffs and Class Members represented by Matt Adams, Aaron Korthuis, Tim H. Warden-Hertz, Meghan Casey and Olivia Gibbons of the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project.
The USCIS Abandoned Juvenile Class Action Lawsuit is Moreno Galvez et al. v. Cissna et al., Case No. 2:19-cv-00321, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.
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