Nonprofits Challenge Fee Reinstatement for Special Immigrant Youth Status
SAN FRANCISCO — A coalition of immigrant and child rights organizations has filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) over its recent reinstatement of a $250 fee for Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS). This humanitarian classification offers protections to immigrant children who have faced abuse, neglect, or abandonment by their parents.
The plaintiffs, including the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights and Legal Services for Children, assert that SIJS is not merely an immigration benefit but a crucial protective mechanism tailored to address the unique vulnerabilities of these youth. In their 26-page complaint, they emphasize the importance of maintaining access to this status without financial barriers.
For more than three decades, applicants for SIJS have benefited from a waived fee, allowing vulnerable children to access essential legal protections. However, this changed last summer when U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that, under the “One Big Beautiful Bill” (HR 1), no fees could be waived for any immigration applications.
The law specifies that the Secretary of Homeland Security must impose a fee for SIJS applications. In a subsequent notice, USCIS reiterated that the $250 fee could not be waived, citing H.R. 1’s lack of an explicit provision for fee waivers. The agency contended that, based on the statutory language, they had no authority to allow fee exemptions.
Despite this, the plaintiffs argue that by restricting fee waivers in other areas of the law while excluding SIJS from such restrictions, Congress did not intend to eliminate fee waivers for this specific group. They contend that the omission reflects a legislative intent that SIJS applicants should retain access to fee waivers.
The lawsuit also claims that the removal of the fee waiver was arbitrary and lacked sufficient explanation. Additionally, the plaintiffs assert that the government violated the Administrative Procedure Act by failing to follow necessary notice and comment procedures for such substantive regulatory changes.
Seeking immediate relief, the plaintiffs have requested a court order to prevent the government from denying fee waivers during the litigation process, along with a permanent injunction against such denials for SIJS applications in the future. They argue that once the agency’s misinterpretation of H.R. 1 is set aside, the historical precedent and the law’s wording clearly indicate that SIJS petitions should qualify for fee waivers.
Originally established under the Immigration and Nationality Act in 1990, the Special Immigrant Youth status was designed to protect minor immigrants who have suffered abuse, neglect, or abandonment and offer them a pathway to permanent residency in the United States. To qualify, individuals must be under 21, unmarried, and possess a state court order indicating their unification status with their parents due to the cited abuses, alongside an assessment that their return to their home country would not be in their best interest.
Advocates argue that eligible children often lack the means to pay the $250 fee, putting them at risk of losing vital legal protections. As applications are limited to individuals under 21, many face tight deadlines that compound their financial challenges. The plaintiffs emphasize that children unable to file Form I-360 due to this financial barrier are denied access to critical protections against removal and the opportunity for work authorization, as well as security in their pending claims for legal status.
