LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) — Last week, a federal judge issued a ruling in a high-stakes lawsuit against Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem — a case that left hundreds of thousands of young immigrants in limbo after a sudden policy change affected special visa status, including deferred action granted due to backlogs.
The case, A.C.R. v. Noem, comes after U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services ended deferred action for Special Immigrant Juveniles in June, leaving thousands waiting to see if their work permits and special statuses would be renewed.
Deferred action allows them to work, go to school and participate in society while seeking permanent residency.
“SIJS is something that’s a visa category that eventually you can get status through,” said Mary Choate, executive director at the Center for Legal Immigration Assistance in Lincoln. “It just takes time.”
USCIS processes an average of 8 million applications, petitions and requests annually, according to its website.
According to court filings in A.C.R. v. Noem, SIJS has offered protection to more than 200,000 juvenile immigrants.
Last week’s court decision granted a stay, meaning USCIS must temporarily keep that protection in place.
But immigration advocates like Choate say the fight is far from over.
Choate has spent years helping clients from all over the world who come to the U.S. for a variety of reasons.
This includes Noemi, who made the difficult and dangerous journey from Guatemala to the United States alone at age 17.
Noemi has spent the last few months worried she’d be sent back despite qualifying for the Special Immigrant Juvenile Status.
“It’s something that is a very serious. It’s a humanitarian visa. And a lot of times these children have gone through a lot in order to get that status,” Choate said. “They have to be shown in court to be abandoned, abused or neglected by one or both parents. So they have gone through a lot.”
Noemi left her younger brother behind in Guatemala and faced a difficult journey in search of safety in the U.S.
“In Guatemala, the younger generation, especially the women, younger women, are facing of a lot of danger,” Noemi said.
She is hoping to study medicine and possibly bring her little brother to the U.S., but it will take time and money.
Despite months of uncertainty around her own visa status, Noemi says she’s trying to stay calm and patient and wants people to understand not everyone coming to America is a criminal.
“People should try to have more empathy with an understanding of people who are trying to come here and go through the process,” she said.
While the court’s stay ruling provides some relief to immigrants like Noemi for now, the case and others like it are far from over.
Other special visa categories — like refugee status for the Burmese — have already been rescinded. Choate said many previously admitted refugees are being re-interviewed under new USCIS policy, despite what she called a “horrendous” admittance process that includes at least three interviews and strict security checks.
The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to 10/11’s request for comment.
For Noemi’s safety, 10/11 chose not to use her face, voice or real name.
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