Coming to this country to make a better life for yourself or to seek the American Dream keeps getting harder and harder because of new laws, there is no denying that. There are so many loop holes to jump through and actually being accepted into a favorable status seems like the process could be forever. Many people would argue that it is unfair that it takes many years just for immigrants to get citizenship, yet others would say that the ‘law is the law’.
So what happens to many children when they ‘age out’ of programs? Many of them take the tools they learned and make their lives better. If this were the case for every situation, America would be very different today. But, unfortunately, that is not the case here.
The case here is that the many immigrant children who became adults while their parents were waiting to become legal permanent residents of the United States, now need to go back in line on their own for visas.
The bigger problem is that the government officials were, “misreading a law intended to keep families together by preventing added delays for children seeking visas.” Interestingly, this case has no impact on children that are coming across the U.S. border from Mexico on their own.
However, Congress did try to fix the problem of ‘age out’ qualifications. In 2002, the Child Status Protection Act passed and “allows aged-out children to retain their child status longer or qualify for a valid adult category and keep their place in line.”
Several authorities weighed in on this issue including the President, Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor along with many others.
Without going in great detail and complicated facts, Congress would need to pass a law that applies to children that are already here and those were are coming over on their own. If there is such one in place, then that would have to be understood so well that all parties understand it.
In the end, waiting for visas and other types of citizenship is nothing new, but it should not as complicated as it has become in recent years. Though many could argue, it may be one of the only ways to keep in control on who comes in and out of the country.
