✊director @EndSIJSBacklog 📢 proud dog mom 🐶 serious about french fries 🍟 opinions r my own. #EndSIJSBacklog
Joined May 2020
- Tweets 329
- Following 530
- Followers 221
- Likes 812
16 Photos and videos
Pinned Tweet
4 Dec 2023
📢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
27 Nov 2023
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 ➡️ bit.ly/sijs-report-launch
3
4
1,012
27 Aug 2024
A glimmer of hope! Very glad to see ending the SIJS backlog as a priority in the Dems 2024 Master Policy Platform. #EndSIJSBacklog
26 Aug 2024
📣 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
2
6
359
5 Dec 2023
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
4 Dec 2023
"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⬇️slate.com/news-and-politics/…
1
1
10
620
4 Dec 2023
📢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
4 Dec 2023
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 👉nbcnews.com/news/world/backl…
2
7
7
1,096
2 Oct 2023
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.
2
7
1,626
Rachel Leya Davidson retweeted
12 Sep 2023
New Research Reveals Inside Story of Vulnerable Immigrant Children Seeking Protection in U.S., by @ackocher open.substack.com/pub/austin…
1
2
6
2,160
Rachel Leya Davidson retweeted
12 Sep 2023
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.
2
1
6
419
Rachel Leya Davidson retweeted
12 Sep 2023
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.
1
1
5
353
Rachel Leya Davidson retweeted
12 Sep 2023
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.
1
2
7
422
Rachel Leya Davidson retweeted
12 Sep 2023
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.
1
1
6
279
Rachel Leya Davidson retweeted
12 Sep 2023
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.
1
1
5
321
Rachel Leya Davidson retweeted
12 Sep 2023
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.
1
1
4
234
Rachel Leya Davidson retweeted
12 Sep 2023
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.
1
1
6
268
Rachel Leya Davidson retweeted
12 Sep 2023
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.)
1
1
5
239
Rachel Leya Davidson retweeted
12 Sep 2023
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?
1
1
4
212
Rachel Leya Davidson retweeted
12 Sep 2023
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.
1
1
4
198
Rachel Leya Davidson retweeted
12 Sep 2023
Now for some good news: USCIS has been processing LPR apps faster since 2019 but even in 2021, it still took well over a year for children to get their immigration papers.
1
1
4
204
Rachel Leya Davidson retweeted
12 Sep 2023
The SIJS backlog (measured here in 6-mo increments) also grew during the Trump administration. It declined in 2021 BUT based on new unpublished data (which is why y'all should give us a follow on Twitter/SSRN), the backlog shot up again more recently.
1
1
5
230
Rachel Leya Davidson retweeted
12 Sep 2023
What can be done?
Policy Recommendations
1. We must ensure that children get attorneys. Representation matters.
2. We must abolish the SIJS backlog. No approved child should be in limbo.
3. We shouldn't have to fight to get this data. Transparency now.
1
1
4
169
Rachel Leya Davidson retweeted
12 Sep 2023
What can be done?
Research Recommendations
Immigrant youth are often left out of migration studies scholarship: treated as secondary to adults or imagined as one-dimensional victims. Children's voices matter and we need to do a better job of including them in academic research.
1
1
4
226