Rachel Leya Davidson

✊director @EndSIJSBacklog 📢 proud dog mom 🐶 serious about french fries 🍟 opinions r my own. #EndSIJSBacklog

[Rachel Leya Davidson @rayraydson]

📢We are releasing a report today on the #SIJSBacklog w/never-before-seen @USCIS data and the stories of impacted youth. Join us at 1pm ET to learn more and hear directly from an impacted youth. @EndSIJSBacklog @TulaneLaw @NIPNLG @Prof_Hlass

[End SIJS Backlog Coalition @EndSIJSBacklog]

On 12/4, @EndSIJSBacklog Coalition (a project of @NIPNLG) & @TulaneLaw’s Immigrant Rights Clinic will release a new report that shows the skyrocketing #SIJSbacklog over the past 2 yrs. #EndSIJSBacklog

Join the launch event to learn more ➡️ https://t.co/VI8OH9ce7D

[Rachel Leya Davidson @rayraydson]

A glimmer of hope! Very glad to see ending the SIJS backlog as a priority in the Dems 2024 Master Policy Platform. #EndSIJSBacklog

[End SIJS Backlog Coalition @EndSIJSBacklog]

📣 We are very glad to see that our top priority, ending the SIJS backlog, is a top priority in the Dems 2024 Master Policy Platform! 👏

Check it out on page 69 of the party platform! Link in our bio 🔗

#SIJS #EndSIJSBacklog

[Rachel Leya Davidson @rayraydson]

It’s shameful to allow a technical oversight in the law to keep holding #SIJS youth back from living their fullest lives. Putting into words the reasons why it is so urgent for #Congress to act now w/@Prof_Hlass is always a privilege. #EndSIJSBacklog

[End SIJS Backlog Coalition @EndSIJSBacklog]

"The one child protection that does exist in immigration law is called special immigrant juvenile status. Unfortunately, this protection is not working as Congress intended," write @Prof_Hlass & @rayraydson in a new op-ed for @Slate. #EndSIJSBacklog

Read⬇️https://t.co/1ja09Al32F

[Rachel Leya Davidson @rayraydson]

@alizada_ay2357 @EndSIJSBacklog @NBCNews @TulaneLaw You are not bothering me. Please don't apologize. You and the other impacted youth are the reason we do this work and we can only do this work alongside you! I am sending you a private message with her email.

[Rachel Leya Davidson @rayraydson]

📢BREAKING: @NBCNews exclusive on @EndSIJSBacklog Coalition & @TulaneLaw report we are releasing today. There are over 100,000 youth trapped in legal limbo bc of an oversight in the law. This is a completely solvable issue. #EndSIJSBacklog

[End SIJS Backlog Coalition @EndSIJSBacklog]

NEW: @NBCNews reports on the new @EndSIJSbacklog Coalition & @TulaneLaw report, "False Hopes: Over 100,000 Immigrant Youth Trapped in the SIJS Backlog," sharing that the #SIJSbacklog has more than doubled in the last two years. #EndSIJSBacklog

Read more 👉https://t.co/krbbx3vF0S

[Rachel Leya Davidson @rayraydson]

@alizada_ay2357 @EndSIJSBacklog @NBCNews @TulaneLaw I am sorry to hear that you are still waiting for your work permit. That is very frustrating. When we made the FOIA request, deferred action had not yet been implemented so this FOIA doesn't have that data unfortunately. Can I connect you to our youth organizer to talk more?

[Rachel Leya Davidson @rayraydson]

@ackocher @GeorgetownLaw @Prof_Hlass So amazing to work on this project w/ you @ackocher and @Prof_Hlass ! Now we have to come up with something new to collab on! #dreamteam

[Rachel Leya Davidson @rayraydson]

@GeorgetownLJ @Prof_Hlass @ackocher Thank you for publishing our work. Such an honor to let some light in on 10 years of the #SIJS process in your journal.

[Rachel Leya Davidson @rayraydson]

A labor of love & longing for a better system for all immigrant youth, our article on the #SIJS program is officially out in @GeorgetownLJ. Writing w/my dear colleague-friends @Prof_Hlass @ackocher was a blessing. ♥️@GeorgetownLJ for amplifying our call for dignity and justice.

[The Georgetown Law Journal @GeorgetownLJ]

The final issue of Volume 111 is now available! Check it out here: https://t.co/fa9BQzo8Jw

[Greg Siskind @gsiskind]

New Research Reveals Inside Story of Vulnerable Immigrant Children Seeking Protection in U.S., by @ackocher https://t.co/sTBYwtORdR

[Austin Kocher, PhD @ackocher]

@Prof_Hlass @rayraydson First, the basics. Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) was created by Congress in 1990 to protect vulnerable children from deportation by providing a pathway to lawful permanent residency and citizenship. SIJS applications were low at first but grew over the past decade.

[Austin Kocher, PhD @ackocher]

@Prof_Hlass @rayraydson To be eligible for SIJS, a state judge must first find that a child has been abandoned, abused, or neglected. Once a judge makes a finding, the child files an I-360 petition to be recognized for SIJS and then files an I-485 application for permanent residence.

[Austin Kocher, PhD @ackocher]

@Prof_Hlass @rayraydson The process should be straightforward. But using data obtained through FOIA litigation that the agency didn't want to share, we found that USCIS created barriers for children and politicized the SIJS process, esp. during the Trump administration.

[Austin Kocher, PhD @ackocher]

@Prof_Hlass @rayraydson Even worse, thousands of children are waiting in the SIJS backlog each month – even though they are approved (or likely to be) – simply because Congress fails to allot visas. These children live precarious lives: no longer children yet unable to move into independent adulthood.

[Austin Kocher, PhD @ackocher]

@Prof_Hlass @rayraydson SIJS petitions (I-360s) and lawful permanent resident applications (I-485s) have both grown over the past decade - as have denials. During the Trump administration in 2017 and 2018 - see figure (c) - USCIS almost stopped processing new SIJS petitions & instead focused on DENIALS.

[Austin Kocher, PhD @ackocher]

@Prof_Hlass @rayraydson Two types of bureaucratic barriers – notices of intent to deny (NOID) and requests for evidence (RFE) – also fluctuate over time. RFEs and NOIDs were rare prior to the Trump admin, but increased 2017–2020.

[Austin Kocher, PhD @ackocher]

@Prof_Hlass @rayraydson Migrant youth from Central America figure largely into the SIJS petitions and applications, but significant numbers of children from India, Bangladesh, China are also present.

[Austin Kocher, PhD @ackocher]

@Prof_Hlass @rayraydson Who gets SIJS and who is denied? Nationality plays a role here. At both stages of the SIJS process, applicants from India, Bangladesh, and Nigeria see higher rates of denial. (I-360s should typically approved, less/little discretion.)

[Austin Kocher, PhD @ackocher]

@Prof_Hlass @rayraydson Children who have a pending deportation case in court face much higher SIJS rates of denial than those children not in court. Should children who have been abandoned, abused, or neglected even be in immigration court in the first place?

[Austin Kocher, PhD @ackocher]

@Prof_Hlass @rayraydson Children's precarity isn't just about approval/denial, it's also about how long it takes to get an answer. Congress gave USCIS 180 days to process these petitions. Since 2017, USCIS has blown past the law. RFEs add considerable delays.