June 8, 2018
On Thursday, Legal Aid and Latham & Watkins filed a lawsuit on behalf of four youth between the ages of 18 and 21 in New York. The suit challenges the Trump Administration’s unlawful and harmful attempt to deny them, and children like them, their right to permanent status and citizenship in the United States.
These children—including clients of Children’s Rights—have each made a life for themselves in New York. Many have escaped unimaginable hardships in the countries of their birth, making the dangerous journey to the United States unaccompanied by an adult. Each of these children has been found by the New York courts to have been abused, neglected, or abandoned by a parent; returning to their country of origin would be harmful. And as the suit details, Congress has created a pathway for these youth to become legal residents of the United States.
Unfortunately, the Trump Administration is now attempting to deny youth who are found to be eligible for special immigrant juvenile status after they turn 18. Children’s Rights stands with Legal Aid and Latham & Watkins in this challenge to a policy that would harm these children and children like them.