On June 6, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), a subagency of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), issued new guidance to their Policy Manual terminating previous guidance from May 7, 2022 that automatically considers people eligible for Special Immigrant Juveniles status (SIJS) for deferred action and related employment authorization when a green card is not immediately available for them. Under the updated Trump policy—which cites part of its justification as Executive Order 14161, issued by President Trump on January 20, 2025—those who currently have SIJS deferred action and work permits will not have their status and work permits terminated, but they will not be renewed and will be allowed to end upon their current expiration date. 

SIJS is a status created by Congress to protect people younger than 21 who have an order from a state court finding that they cannot be reunified with one or both of their parents because they have survived parental abuse, abandonment, or neglect, and that it would not be in their best interest to be returned to their country of nationality or previous residence or that of their parents. People with SIJS are eligible to apply to USCIS for lawful permanent resident status under the fourth employment-based green card category.  

Because of the large backlog for green cards for people with SIJS and the resulting lengthy wait times, under the May 2022 policy, the Biden administration would consider them on a case-by-case basis for deferred action while they awaited the availability of a green card. Deferred action is a temporary protection from deportation, which also makes a person eligible to apply for an employment authorization document from USCIS (also known as a work permit).  

Impact: In recent years, an estimated 100,000 or more children and young people have been approved for SIJS but have been waiting in the green card backlog. The May 2022 policy on SIJS deferred action allowed people in the SIJS backlog to be protected from deportation and live their lives and attend school without fear of immigration enforcement, and for those who were old enough, to apply for a work permit, which allowed those young people to work lawfully and have enforceable workplace rights on the job. The termination of the May 2022 SIJS deferred action policy will leave tens of thousands of young people more vulnerable to trafficking and abuse because of their fear of deportation, and at risk of workplace exploitation because they cannot work lawfully.