End Stepchild Deportation

noreply@blogger.com (American Families United) — Mon, 01 Jan 2007 21:49:00 +0000

When the stepchild of an American citizen enters on a K-2 fiancée visa, he or she will be legally admitted up to the day before their 21st birthday, but then promptly deported if their case is not processed by the time they turn 21. We are working to "freeze" the age of children at the time they apply -- a principle widely adopted in other areas of immigration law through the Child Status Protection Act -- in order to correct this problem.

Some personal stories follow:

We have asked Congress for specific legislative reform to address the issue be enacted as soon as possible. Along with other organizations, we delivered an open letter to Congress urging reform.

Members of Congress and the Senators responded first with inclusion of the issue in the Reuniting Families Act of 2009, and then with an improved version in the CIR ASAP bill of 2009.

This issue could also be helped administratively (though not completely solved) if USCIS acknowledged that Congress never intended to exclude step-children of US citizens when it passed the Child Status Protect Act in 2002. In support of that request, there is a District Court decision contrary to the current USCIS interpretation. This has been followed by several other similar decisions.