Advocating for Immigrant Youth: Addressing Ongoing Barriers to Special Immigrant Juvenile Status in the One-Parent Context - Penn Law Review

Advocating for Immigrant Youth: Addressing Ongoing Barriers to Special Immigrant Juvenile Status in the One-Parent Context - Penn Law Review

Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) is a pathway to legal status for young people under the age of twenty-one who, among other requirements, have been “abused, abandoned, or neglected” by “1 or both” of their parents. A uniquely bifurcated statute, youth must first receive “special findings” from their respective state court under the SIJS statute before they can apply for SIJS with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. Un…