Law School Clinic and Partners Develop Model State Statute That Promotes Rights of Immigrant Youth
With Congress, the Executive Branch, and the federal judiciary at odds over how to mend the country’s broken immigration system, now more than ever is the time to promote positive changes in state legislation for immigrants. Changes are especially needed to protect the growing number of unaccompanied immigrant children who enter the country.
A group of immigration and family law experts has developed model statutory language aimed at promoting uniformity across jurisdictions as well as the right of all Special Immigrant Juvenile Status-eligible immigrant children to access their state court systems. The group is comprised of the Child Advocacy Clinic (CAC) at Rutgers School of Law–Newark, the American Friends Service Committee, Fordham Law School’s Feerick Center for Social Justice, and the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, with pro bono support from Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP.
“Special Provisions for Immigrant Youth: A Model State Statute” was prepared with the goal of overcoming jurisdictional barriers so that all children and youth who are eligible for Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) have access to state court. “Due to inconsistent interpretations of federal law and policy,” explains Child Advocacy Clinic Director Randi Mandelbaum in citing one example, “children in Nebraska and New Jersey (unlike children in New York and California) who have been abused, neglected, or abandoned by only one parent have difficulty obtaining SIJS.”
To help prepare the model statute, students from Rutgers–Newark and Fordham contacted specialized lawyers practicing in 10 states in which immigrants have traditionally settled: New York, California, Nevada, Texas, New Jersey, Florida, Arizona, Georgia, Maryland, and Illinois.
“Special Provisions for Immigrant Youth: A Model State Statute” aims to:
- Promote uniformity and flexibility across state systems to fully implement the intent of the federal law as well as the spirit of state child welfare laws which seek to protect vulnerable young people.
- Ensure maximum access to state courts in order to obtain the requisite factual findings so that immigrant youth can apply to the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Service for Special Immigrant Juvenile Status.
- Align state law with federal law to ensure that SIJS is available to immigrant youth up to age 21.
- Provide clarity on a number of substantive and procedural issues that typically arise in SIJS cases.
Participation in the development of the model statute represents a continuation of the efforts that Professor Mandelbaum and her CAC students have done for some time. Their work with young people who are eligible for SIJS has led to a number of system reform initiatives.
SIJS, created by Congress in 1990, seeks to protect a population of youth who have faced significant struggles from returning to situations where they will not be safe. SIJS eligibility was expanded in 2008 under the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act.
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the number of unaccompanied immigrant children entering the United States has grown from 6,000 children in 2011 to an estimated 60,000 in 2014. Also, in 2014 approximately 25 percent of unaccompanied immigrant children were under the age of 14, and about one-third of the unaccompanied immigrant children were girls. Given the rise in numbers of arriving unaccompanied children and the expanded eligibility requirements for SIJS, states must ensure that children and youth have access to their court systems.
The complete statute can be accessed at http://law.newark.rutgers.edu/files/UICReport%28Final%29uploaded_2-18-2015%281%29.pdf.
