HB 15 Special Immigrant Juvenile (SIJ) Classification Bill passed the House Judiciary Committee with unanimous 10-0 vote.
Media Contact Email: info@nmilc.org
Albuquerque, N.M.Today- House Bill 15, A Special Immigrant Juvenile (SIJ) Classification Bill, nicknamed the Special Immigrant Juvenile (SIJ) bill, passed The New Mexico House Judiciary Committee with a unanimous 10-0 vote, garnering clear bipartisan support. The legislative proposal now moves to the House Floor. If enacted, undocumented youth and children living in New Mexico would be eligible to apply for Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) up until the age of 21, which aligns with the federal statute.
SIJS protects immigrant youth and children who have been abused, abandoned or neglected. It is a two-step process that implicates both state and federal law. Federal Congress established that the applicant must first go to state court to obtain a juvenile court order issuing predicate findings, and only after such findings are made can the applicant petition the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) for SIJ status. While federal immigration law extends the definition of “child” to age 21, USCIS requires that the predicate state order be obtained before the age of majority in that particular state—which generally has been interpreted as age 18 in NM. Because NM state law is generally limited to age 18, many immigrant children who would qualify for SIJS under federal immigration law are unable to obtain the relief.
The SIJ bill seeks to enable NM state law to reflect federal immigration law to expand the court age-out deadline up to the age of 21 for SIJ cases.This change would make NM the thirteenth state to do this.
Monica Newcomer Miller, Managing Attorney at the New Mexico Immigrant Law Center, said:
“We are very happy to have the overwhelming support of the House Judiciary Committee in moving HB 15 forward. This bill will help to protect vulnerable immigrant youth in our state who have suffered abuse, abandonment or neglect as children. We are excited to be one step closer to securing relief for these children and expanding the age from 18 to 21 in which they can seek this protection.”
Michelle Murguia, Field Manager at New Mexico Dream Team said,
“I’m excited to see SB229 moved to the Senate Floor Committee. I personally was not able to submit an application for the Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS), but my brother was able to submit his application days before turning 18. I discovered there was immigration relief that protected children when I was 19 years old, but because the age limit being 18, I was unable to apply. I believe that if the age limit is 21, I would have more opportunities to succeed, but more importantly, I would be protected from deportation. I strongly feel that the age restriction should be raised to 21, as very few young immigrants like myself are aware of the opportunities available to them at the age of 18. I know more people like me that lost that opportunity because of their age, and changing the age limit would benefit more people from my community giving them the opportunity they deserve.”
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The New Mexico Immigrant Law Center is a non-profit organization seeking to advance justice and equity by empowering low-income immigrant
communities through collaborative legal services, advocacy, and education.
The New Mexico Dream Team is a statewide network committed to create power for multigenerational, undocumented, and mixed status families through trainings and leadership development. We work to engage our community and allies in becoming leaders using an intersectional, gender, and racial justice lens—to develop and implement an organizing and advocacy infrastructure for policy change.
