Young Immigrant Work Authorization Class Action Lawsuit Overview:
- Who: Immigration advocates are suing the federal government on behalf of six young people from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.
- Why: The advocates say vulnerable young people who can’t be sent back to their home countries due to abuse or neglect are not being granted work permits in a timely manner.
- Where: The class action lawsuit was filed in California federal court.
Immigration advocates have hit the federal government with a class action lawsuit over its alleged treatment of some unaccompanied minors who fled their countries after being abused or abandoned.
In a class action complaint filed against the heads of the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service Mar. 7 in a California federal court, a group of immigration advocates alleged violations of the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution.
The advocates say the immigration departments are too slow to approve work permits for young people whom state courts have determined have been abused, neglected or abandoned and have pending or approved petitions for Special Immigrant Juvenile (SIJ) status.
“Many of the individual Plaintiffs and members of the class they seek to represent were unaccompanied minors who fled their home countries after being abused, neglected or abandoned or are juveniles who experienced abuse, neglect or abandonment in this country,” the class action lawsuit states.
Young Immigrants Have to Wait Years for Work Permits
According to the lawsuit, Congress has granted these young immigrants a clear path to permanent resident status and work status. However, because of visa quota backlogs, many SIJ petitioners cannot file applications for Adjustment of Status that would allow them legal working status for five or six years after filing their SIJ petitions.
“Defendants’ policy, which is an administrative decision not required by any federal law, often forces Plaintiffs and the tens of thousands of class members they seek to represent to go cold, hungry, or homeless for many years, and to work in underground exploitative jobs in order to survive during the years it takes before Defendants allow them to apply for [work permits],” the class action states.
The lawsuit was filed by legal groups and supportive housing organizations on behalf of six individuals from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.
It states that people from these nations wait years for work authorization that is routinely extended to other vulnerable petitioners for temporary or permanent residence.
The suit proposes two classes: One representing the tens of thousands of people granted or seeking special immigrant juveniles status who have not been able to apply for work authorization, and another representing the subclass of special immigrant juvenile applicants whose adjudication took longer than 180 days.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been hit with a class action lawsuit alleging it keeps immigrants’ personal documentation without good reason, causing major barriers to vulnerable families trying to seek work in the United States when granted legal status.
What do you think about the government’s delays in getting work permits to abused and abandoned young immigrants? Let us know in the comments.
The plaintiffs are represented by Peter A. Schey and Daniel Bral of the Center for Human Rights & Constitutional Law; Camila Alvarez, Ruth N. Calvillo and Lilit Melkonyan of the Central American Resource Center; Maritza Agundez of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights; Stephany Arzaga, Cynthia Henning and Claudia Quintana of Legal Service for Children; Stephen Rosenbaum and Marcos Pacheco of La Raza Centro Legal; Alex Holguin of Dream Act Lawyers; Silvia Aguirre of The Aguirre Law Firm; and Cristel Martinez of The Law Offices of Martinez Nguyen & Magana.
The Special Immigrant Juvenile Class Action Lawsuit is Casa Libre/Freedom House et al. v. Mayorkas et al., Case No. 2:22-cv-01510, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
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