Trump Administration Tightens Immigration Procedures for Undocumented Children

In recent months the Trump administration has issued a series of administrative rulings that limit procedural options for undocumented children seeking residency or asylum. The rulings prevent immigration courts from delaying cases when children are waiting on in-process visas, require judges to deny continuances, and narrow the definition of “unaccompanied minor” for children who later reunite with parents. The Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) has also barred judges from pausing deportation cases while children pursue Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) visas, citing a backlog at the State Department.

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U.S. immigration law has long recognized children as a vulnerable class, granting them special procedural safeguards such as the ability to be classified as unaccompanied minors and to obtain SIJS visas when a state probate court finds abuse, abandonment, or neglect. Those protections have been a cornerstone of the system’s “child-centered” approach.

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At the Executive Office for Immigration Review courthouse in Annandale, Virginia, Judge Paul McCloskey presided over master-calendar hearings in nearly 50 cases over two days, citing the new legal limits as reasons to deny continuances and, in some instances, to preliminarily reject asylum claims. Attorneys present objected that the visa bulletin— which the State Department says is processing only applications dated on or before Oct. The judge recorded the objections but did not depart from his interpretation of the BIA rulings.

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• The State Department’s visa bulletin is currently limited to approved applications dated on or before Oct. 15, 2022.

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• Judge McCloskey handled master-calendar hearings in nearly 50 immigration cases in a two-day span.

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• The BIA’s recent rulings affect a “large swath of children” who lack the alternative pathways available to adult immigrants.

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The restrictions jeopardize thousands of children who rely on SIJS visas, T visas for human-trafficking victims, or asylum proceedings conducted by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services staff trained to interview minors. By limiting continuances and narrowing the unaccompanied-minor classification, the administration reduces the procedural safeguards that have historically protected vulnerable youth, potentially leading to faster removals of children with pending relief applications.

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Advocacy groups have begun filing habeas-corpus petitions to secure the release of children detained in Health and Human Services facilities. Lawyers anticipate that appeals of BIA decisions to federal circuit courts will further strain already-overburdened immigration counsel. Additionally, recent cuts to federal funding for nonprofit organizations that provide pro bono representation could force the closure of cases even when “there are grounds for appeal,” according to Hojaiban.

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