Matter of Wang Killing Dreams

I happened to read this blog post during an important immigration strategy conference. “The workable solutions that preserve our values and move us forward” just seemed like empty words at that moment

Matter of Wang vs. Matter of Garcia are two essential court case decisions in the area of ‘aging out’ and CSPA.

Matter of Wang is an interim decision and not a precedent but essentially, the BIA  came close to overturning itself with Matter of Wang, saying that a child who has aged out under Child Status Protection Act (CSPA) cannot retain their original priority date and get converted to the appropriate category automatically.

The automatic conversion and priority date retention provisions of the Child Status Protection Act, Pub L. No. 107-208, 116 Stat. 927 (2002), do not apply to an alien who ages out of eligibility for an immigrant visa as the derivative beneficiary of a fourth-preference visa petition, and on whose behalf a second-preference petition is later filed by a different petitioner.

This is the absolute worst news I have received since the infamous ‘get married–it’s your only option’ lawyer day.

The scope of CSPA has been reduced to “the original priority date is retained if the subsequent petition is filed by the same petitioner.” That denies an automatic conversion from the 4th category to a 2nd since there is no petitioning in U.S. immigration law by an aunt for an over-21 niece. If your aunt petitioned for your mother when you were 4 years old and 20 years pass till a visa is made available, you will be ‘aged out’ under the original petition and not be eligible to use the old priority date under a new category–essentially, you go to the back of the line AGAIN and wait another 10-20 years, separated from your parent. Similarly, there may be no automatic conversion from the 3rd to the 2nd category because there is no grandparent to grandchild petitioning in immigration law.

That means another decade wait for youth who age out while waiting in line; twenty years if you are from China, Mexico or India. It means family separation. It means no relief for those of us who live like refugees in their own homes.

Now we wait for the 5 lawsuits against the USCIS on this. By the end of this year, I hope to get enough resources to sue them too whether or not we pass the DREAM Act.

You either detain and deport me or you give me my papers. I have had enough.