Next fall, the first class of Immigrant Justice Corps - Unaccompanied Child Program fellows will begin work in West Virginia, representing kids who’ve been released from shelters operated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Many of those kids will be eligible for Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, a path to permanent residency and citizenship.

Yesterday, Immigration Law Clinic students had a chance to ask questions about SIJS from Charlie Hall, an Immigration Clinic alum (WVU Law ‘13) and current Supervisory Appeals Officer with the Administrative Appeals Office (AAO) of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS). Hall worked as a student in the Immigration Law Clinic, helping one client obtain a U visa (for victims of certain crimes), and another to obtain asylum in immigration court.

USCIS adjudicates all SIJS petitions (as well as other humanitarian petitions like U visas, T visas for trafficking victims, and Violence Against Women Act petitions for survivors of domestic violence). Since Hall’s office sees the toughest cases — the ones that were denied in the first instance — he offered front-row-seat advice on the trickiest issues in SIJS cases and how to avoid them if possible.

Best Practices for SIJS Cases

The first step in any SIJS petition is to secure an order from a court with juvenile jurisdiction under state law. Problems can arise if the order of the “juvenile court” does not make the proper findings.

For instance, SIJS requires that the court find that the child has been subject to “abuse, abandonment, neglect, or similar basis under state law” by one or both parents. USCIS may find the court order inadequate if it fails to specify which type of maltreatment occurred. Similarly, USCIS may deny the petition if the court fails to state which parent or parents committed the maltreatment.

News to me: Death of one or both parents may qualify as “a similar basis under state law” to abandonment or neglect, if the juvenile court expressly makes that finding.

In some cases, I’ve seen young people with approved SIJS petitions feel the need to assist the parent (or a sibling still with the parent) in extreme circumstances such as illness or end of life. Hall said that living with the parent could cause USCIS to reopen the juvenile court order to determine whether it was bona fide, but short visits should not pose a problem.

Paying It Forward

The good news is that careful attorneys can help to avoid most of these defects. Immigration Law Clinic students who will represent migrant kids in their careers (in the IJC-UCP Fellowship or otherwise) have a heads up about common pitfalls.

Hall offered advice about careers in immigration with USCIS or the Department of Justice Attorney General’s Honors Program (where he got his start with the Los Angeles Immigration Court), and offered to advise clinic students about their applications.

I started in the Immigration Law Clinic after Hall had graduated, so I deserve zero credit for his successful career. But I’m happy to play the role of facilitator as WVU Law and ILC graduates now working in the immigration field advise and mentor attorneys just beginning their careers. Just one more reason why law clinics are an invaluable part of law school.