Professor Lauren Aronson co-authored an op-ed in Slate, where she proposed modifications to a form of humanitarian immigration relief called Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS), which provides a potential pathway to lawful permanent residence (green card) for children under juvenile court jurisdiction due to parental abuse, neglect, or abandonment. An excerpt follows:
"The potential fixes are straightforward. Through minor amendments in the SIJS law or agency regulations, SIJS beneficiaries could be exempted from visa limitations, given protection from detention and removal while applications are pending, and allowed to obtain work permits while they await decisions on their cases. Though less durable long-term, an executive action by the Biden administration could designate SIJS recipients as eligible for deferred action, providing protection and employment authorization. None of these fixes require major immigration reform, and all of them eliminate the problematic barrier to SIJS’s basic humanitarian goal of providing safety and stability to abused and neglected immigrant children."
Read the full op-ed at slate.com.
Note: The views expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the University of Illinois College of Law.