Representatives Jimmy Gomez (CA-34), Adriano Espaillat (NY-13) and Zoe Lofgren (CA-18) are planning to reintroduce the Protect Vulnerable Immigrant Youth Act, which would exempt Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) beneficiaries from numerical visa limitations. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) will be introducing the bill in the Senate. This will be the first stand alone Senate bill to lift the SIJS visa cap. The End SIJS Backlog Coalition is seeking organizational endorsements to demonstrate support for this legislation.
Bill text: https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/7867/text (bill will remain unchanged from 2022 version)
If your organization would like to endorse the bill, please fill out the form below by EOD Friday, May 5. We are not accepting endorsements from individuals or law firms other than members of academia.
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Dear [XXX],
The undersigned immigration legal service providers, child welfare organizations, and other organizations endorse the Protect Vulnerable Immigrant Youth Act. The bill exempts Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) visas from annual employment-based visa limits, providing much needed protection and stability to immigrant child survivors of abuse, abandonment, or neglect.
Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) is a humanitarian immigration status available to children who have been determined by a state court to have survived parental abuse, neglect, and/or abandonment. Once granted SIJS, children may seek legal permanent residence in the United States when a “visa number” becomes available to them. Congress created this pathway in 1990 to protect children by providing swift, permanent relief to them as they overcome abuse and trauma and strive to rebuild their lives in the United States. But despite being humanitarian in nature, SIJS visas are counted against the employment-based fourth visa preference (EB4) category, subjecting them to annual employment-based visa limits and associated per-country caps. In recent years, the limitations on this category have meant some children must wait years before being able to seek legal permanent residence after USCIS determines they qualify for SIJS—and their hardships are only deepening. Furthermore, as of December 2022, all SIJS petitioners from all countries must wait for visas to become available before seeking permanent status. This has left tens of thousands of children in legal limbo: already found by state courts and the federal government that it is in their best interests to remain in the United States, yet shut out of the opportunity to pursue enduring protection from harm.
The result is a systemic barrier that deprives abused and traumatized children of the stability essential for their recovery. Some of these children have faced a heightened risk of hunger, homelessness, and even trafficking and other exploitation at the hands of bad actors preying on their vulnerabilities. Many SIJS foster youth who are ineligible to seek lawful permanent residence have been unable to access higher education, join the military, or take other measures to achieve permanency as they transition into adulthood. Additionally, the backlog of SIJS cases that lack available visa numbers exacerbates the operational burdens and inefficiencies straining the U.S. immigration system.
The exemption of SIJS visas from annual visa limits would streamline the immigration system while bringing lasting security and protection to abused, abandoned, and neglected children—a vital advancement for their well-being, as Congress intended. The undersigned organizations are proud to endorse the Protect Vulnerable Immigrant Youth Act of 2023.
Sincerely,
