Senate Bill 572 passes!

Special Immigrant Juvenile (SIJ) status is a type of federal lawful immigration status for vulnerable youth under the age of 21 who are in the state juvenile system.   Until recently, however, Oregon state law only made this remedy available to youth younger than 18 years of age, even though this remedy is available federally to age 21.  Now, under Senate Bill 572, Oregon law supports application for this vital protection to vulnerable and undocumented youth until age 21, in concert with federal law.

SIJS affords a vital protection for certain vulnerable and undocumented youth.  To qualify for SIJS protection, the petitioning youth must first obtain a relevant state court orders that finds (among other things) that they cannot be reunified with one or both parents because of abuse, abandonment, or neglect, and that it is not in their best interest to be returned to their country of nationality.  Other criteria includes that: they are under age 21, not currently married, and reside in the United States.

Sponsored by Senator Wagner and Representative Alonso Leon, and championed by Representative Ricardo Ruiz, Senate Bill 572 creates a new category of persons for whom a guardian may be appointed, called "vulnerable youth." A vulnerable youth is a person between the ages of 18 and 21 who is eligible for an order of guardianship if they cannot be reunified with one or more parent due to abuse, neglect, or abandonment that occurred when the person was a minor.   For the first time, Oregon law will enable state courts to issue predicate orders that will open up SIJS applications for qualifying Oregonians younger than 21 years of age.  This bill expands the jurisdiction of Oregon courts to enable guardianship protection for youth ages of 18-21 to petition an Oregon, an important support for young people escaping trauma and seeking to establish healthy support while they resettle in the United States.

Without a guardian in the US, unaccompanied youth are vulnerable to further abuse, exploitation, human trafficking, and the trauma of abandonment. Before this bill, unaccompanied youth who turned 18 before obtaining an Oregon state court order, often after being transferred between federal facilities for some time, were denied the ability to have responsible adult in Oregon petition to become their guardian.  Senate Bill 572 recognizes that young adults deserve the right to have guardian supports while they navigate the difficulty of the US immigration system, acclimate to language barriers and cultural challenges, and enter the U.S. education system and workforce.  Such vulnerable youth will no longer denied the protection of a responsible adult during this important time of growth and transition.

We applaud the diligent work of Senator Wagner, Representative Alonso Leon, Representative Dexter, Representative Hudson, Representative Meek, Representative Ruiz, and Representative Wilde. We also applaud the work of ICS’s managing attorney in Portland, Isaac Alley, and one of our previous attorneys, Virginia Maynes, who wrote some of the language used in the bill and testified for various committees.

For more information about Senate Bill 572, you can visit: https://olis.oregonlegislature.gov/.../Mea.../Overview/SB572.