Immigration Judge Rules In Favor of Prolonged Family Separation

More bad news for legal permanent residents and their children who have patiently waited in line for years.

In Los Angeles, U.S. District Judge James Selna ruled against legal permanent resident parents who sued the federal government, arguing the 2002 Child Status Protection Act, means their children over 21 should be allowed to retain their place in the line.

This decision means that if your aunt or grandparent sponsored your parent when you were anywhere between 1 day-21 years and you were a beneficiary of that petition, the fact that you waited 10 to 20 years for the availability of a visa number makes no difference if you turn 21.

Sorry, you are out. Your parents need to file again and you need to wait in line all over again for a decade and more. If you are 21 now, the best case scenario is that you would be united with your parents when you are hitting 30. This means more family separation. It means no relief for those undocumented youth who have been waiting in line and still live like refugees in their own homes.

The Board of Immigration Appeals is not helpful since it has issued contradictory decisions in CSPA cases. In Matter of Garcia (2003), it allowed a derivative beneficiary to retain their priority date while in Matter of Wang (2009), it told a 24 year old who had waited for 20 years in line with her parent that she would have to wait another 20 years. It makes little sense, serves absolutely no purpose and encourages more immigration through unauthorized channels.

Appeals would definitely be filed to battle this atrocious decision while lives hang in the balance.

What do you think? Is this age discrimination? Or is the immigration judge and USCIS fair in imposing a 10 year penalty (20 if you are from Mexico, China, Philippines and India) on adult children who happen to age out, simply through no fault of their own?

Would we rather banish them to their home countries, in a short-sighted effort to limit immigration numbers now, only to allow them back in 10-20 years with immigrant spouses and children?