Immigration Judge Rules In Favor of Prolonged Family Separation
Published October 14, 2009 @ 01:43PM PT
More bad news for legal permanent residents and their children who have patiently waited in line for years.
In Los Angeles, U.S. District Judge James Selna ruled against legal permanent resident parents who sued the federal government, arguing the 2002 Child Status Protection Act, means their children over 21 should be allowed to retain their place in the line.
This decision means that if your aunt or grandparent sponsored your parent when you were anywhere between 1 day-21 years and you were a beneficiary of that petition, the fact that you waited 10 to 20 years for the availability of a visa number makes no difference if you turn 21.
Sorry, you are out. Your parents need to file again and you need to wait in line all over again for a decade and more. If you are 21 now, the best case scenario is that you would be united with your parents when you are hitting 30. This means more family separation. It means no relief for those undocumented youth who have been waiting in line and still live like refugees in their own homes.
The Board of Immigration Appeals is not helpful since it has issued contradictory decisions in CSPA cases. In Matter of Garcia (2003), it allowed a derivative beneficiary to retain their priority date while in Matter of Wang (2009), it told a 24 year old who had waited for 20 years in line with her parent that she would have to wait another 20 years. It makes little sense, serves absolutely no purpose and encourages more immigration through unauthorized channels.
Appeals would definitely be filed to battle this atrocious decision while lives hang in the balance.
What do you think? Is this age discrimination? Or is the immigration judge and USCIS fair in imposing a 10 year penalty (20 if you are from Mexico, China, Philippines and India) on adult children who happen to age out, simply through no fault of their own?
Would we rather banish them to their home countries, in a short-sighted effort to limit immigration numbers now, only to allow them back in 10-20 years with immigrant spouses and children?
Share this Post
Facebook
Twitter
Digg
StumbleUpon
Delicious
EmailRelated Posts
Comments (11)
Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the ideas covered in the posts. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; that contain ad hominem attacks; or that are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion.
Author
-
Prerna obtained her Masters degree in International Relations in 2007 and took a hiatus from academia. During this break, she co-founded DreamActivist.org and helped launch a program for immigrant youth in the Bay Area (S4FC). Currently, she is also a Managing Editor at The Sanctuary. Views expressed on this blog are her own and not that of any organization currently affiliated with her. Contact email - prerna@change.org
The current Immigration system needs to make sense. 20 more years! Sounds like a life jail sentence to me.
It sounds like multitudes of discrimination because I really can not figure out what other motive is there.
Posted by Mary Pranzatelli on 10/14/2009 @ 08:17PM PT
You must be signed in to report content.
The motive is to prevent immigration of any kind so lets discourage parents from immigrating by disallowing their children.
The downside to that dumb idea is thousands of dollars spent in litigation and lawsuits, not to mention an increase in unauthorized immigration since adult aged-out children would have no other means to gain family unity for years. When they finally qualify on their petition, they are likely to have spouses and kids. And then their spouses would be eligible to sponsor their families. So limiting this one person now, gets us 3-4 people and more chain migration down the line.
Bravo.
Posted by Prerna Lal on 10/14/2009 @ 08:28PM PT
You must be signed in to report content.
Its such a a ridiculous and confusing system that makes no sense. To spend thousands of dollars on lawsuits and litigation isn't helpful to the vast majority of Americans either. It is ridiculous to hold a person down for years and years and split uf familys. Also, retricting their education which kills progression with innovations and more jobs. More money they could be utilized for jobs, research, etc. Unemployment is at 10%. Does it make sense to spend our tax dollars like this? This doesn't help the middle of the road America. The rich is getting richer while we all continue the struggle.
Posted by Mary Pranzatelli on 10/22/2009 @ 01:02PM PT
You must be signed in to report content.
What do I think?
Trying to make heads or tails of the authors writing leaves one to wonder. At first I understood those that have aged out to be out of country, but I had to read the links to understand that. The author should have used "home country" instead of "homes" in the following sentence: It means no relief for those undocumented youth who have been waiting in line and still live like refugees in their own homes.
I also note that the Garcia case as linked is wrong. Author states 2003, yet the link states 1996. The Wang link returns 404 link "Not Found".
Is this age discrimination?
Short answer, NO.
USCIS fair in imposing a 10 year penalty on adult children who happen to age out?
What penalty? Don't you mean the line for weighting from those countries could take an additional 10 - 30 years once a child becomes an adult and is responsible for their own lives. To claim it as penalty is a little much. Is family re-unification so important that we deny those with an education that may contribute to our nation? Adult children usually move away from home by then anyway, what is exactly the difference? The parents can always return to visit their children, they are but a plane trip away. The internet and the Phone keep people in touch too.
Posted by Estudar * on 10/18/2009 @ 08:21PM PT
You must be signed in to report content.
SO you think that someone turns 21 should wait 20 years in line while someone who is 20 should only wait 10 and that is fair? I take it that you don't have immediate relatives and children in other countries.
"Is family re-unification so important that we deny those with an education that may contribute to our nation."
That is a really stupid statement considering that those waiting for family reunification are also quite educated and willing to contribute to this country.
As an undocumented youth who has lived here for a decade, I can attest to the fact that this is my HOME. And I should not wait in line for another 10 years to get residency because USCIS is breaking the law.
Posted by Prerna Lal on 10/22/2009 @ 12:34PM PT
You must be signed in to report content.
P.S. About adult children moving away from home--that is a really Americanized viewpoint of family considering a lot of Asian families I know, the children stay at home till they get married regardless of their ages, especially girls. Maybe you need a class in 'World Cultures' and a lesson in family values to truly understand why this is a huge problem for a lot of families wanting to stay together.
Posted by Prerna Lal on 10/22/2009 @ 12:45PM PT
You must be signed in to report content.
"I take it that you don't have immediate relatives and children in other countries."
I do have relatives in another country.
"That is a really stupid statement considering that those waiting for family reunification are also quite educated and willing to contribute to this country."
And you know for a fact that all those that are waiting for family re-unification are "quite educated". I would purport that some may be "quite educated".
"And I should not wait in line for another 10 years to get residency because USCIS is breaking the law."
USCIS is breaking the law? How so? And if you are attempting to place yourself in the same situation as your topic, you would be as they are, out of country, not out of status.
Asian families usually keep one child at home to take care of them as they get older. So whats your point? It's nothing more than a difference in culture.
"Maybe you need a class in 'World Cultures' and a lesson in family values to truly understand why this is a huge problem for a lot of families wanting to stay together."
There's no need to challenge my knowledge of 'World Cultures' as you hardly know me. As for Family Values and wanting to stay together, according to your topic, they have already been apart, seperated by an Ocean or border. You would have done better by arguing for re-unification.
Posted by Estudar * on 10/22/2009 @ 07:09PM PT
You must be signed in to report content.
It saddens me to read this because the same thing might happen to me. Me and my parents have been waiting since 1998 when i was 8 years old (despite living here since i was 2 months old) and we were supposed to be already done by now. I turned 19 last July. If they don't get to our case in 1 1/2 years i will be left out. What good will my college degree be then?
Sorry for following the laws of nature like any other human being and AGEING...
Thanks for sucking the hope out of me Judge James Selna....
Posted by Omar . on 10/22/2009 @ 11:48AM PT
You must be signed in to report content.
Hey Omar,
The Costello lawsuit is still pending with hearing on Nov 9 I believe. Hang in there because we should be able to win this one via appeal. If not, we'll have Congressional hearings to fix this problem. There is no way you should be penalized and separated from your family. Fight it out. I also take that you have a 245-I. Marriage might also be an option if you have a girlfriend.
Take care.
Posted by Prerna Lal on 10/22/2009 @ 12:40PM PT
You must be signed in to report content.
thanks.
Marriage an option? Would that have to be before i turn 21 Or is it still an option if i get left out when i turn 21?
Posted by Omar . on 10/22/2009 @ 02:36PM PT
You must be signed in to report content.
This is so stupid and unfair in a million ways. Kids shouldn't have to wait 20 years just to see their parents again. That's incredibly stupid!
Posted by Casey Williams on 11/05/2009 @ 08:41PM PT
You must be signed in to report content.