Special Immigrant Juveniles (SIJs) are abused, abandoned and neglected young people who may qualify for lawful permanent residence (known as “green card” status) under federal laws created to protect this vulnerable population. While some SIJs are eligible to apply for permanent residence immediately, over 45,000 Special Immigrant Juveniles from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras are trapped in a visa “backlog” and must wait years for one of the numerically limited slots to become available.

Fortunately, following a lawsuit filed by MLRI and its partners, USCIS (the federal agency in charge of SIJ cases) established a new policy allowing tens of thousands of these young people to obtain employment authorization in the meantime. However, the unsolved problem – their inability to adjust to permanent resident status in a timely manner – means that the stability which is so essential for abused, abandoned, and neglected young people to overcome their trauma and achieve socioeconomic success continues to be denied to this vulnerable population for years.

A bill, the Protect Vulnerable Immigrant Youth Act (H.R.7867) was introduced in Congress last session and will soon be reintroduced this session. The bill would exempt SIJs from the numerical visa limitations which cause the harmful backlog, and therefore allow them to adjust to permanent residence in a timely manner.

MLRI will continue its role as a leader in the nationwide advocacy effort to ensure that the humanitarian purposes of the SIJ program are realized in practice. While employment authorization significantly improves the ability of SIJs to create new lives in the United States, it is imperative to also end the backlog so that SIJs obtain permanent residence status and the stability that comes with that designation.