Judge Orders Reinstatement of Deferred Action for Vulnerable Young Immigrants

Fri Nov 21 2025 08:35:36 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)

A federal judge's ruling offers hope for vulnerable young immigrants as he orders the Trump administration to reconsider deportation protections under a 2022 program.

In a significant ruling, U.S. District Judge Eric Komitee has ordered U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to reevaluate protections from deportation for young immigrants who have faced abuse or neglect. This court decision allows existing and new applicants to apply under the deferred action program, ensuring they can seek work permits and legal residency during the lengthy visa process. Legal representatives argue this ruling prevents the abrupt withdrawal of critical protections impacting hundreds of thousands of young lives.

A federal judge issued a significant ruling on Wednesday, prompting the Trump administration to reassess protections from deportation for vulnerable young immigrants.

U.S. District Judge Eric Komitee mandated U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to re-evaluate the 2022 deferred action program, which had been rescinded in June. This decision permits the program to advance while a lawsuit initiated by plaintiffs in July proceeds.

The affected children and youths include those abused, neglected, or abandoned by parents, who have been granted Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) via state courts. Established with bipartisan congressional support in 1990, the SIJS does not provide legal status but allows qualified youth to apply for visas for permanency and work permits. The waiting period for these visas can span years and is subject to annual limitations. The Biden administration allowed USCIS to consider shielding the designated youth from deportation while they awaited their visa approvals.

Without the deferred action program, these young individuals risk deportation and losing eligibility for legal residency should they return to their countries of origin.

Stephanie Ellie Norton, an attorney representing the plaintiffs from the National Immigration Project, emphasized the gravity of the ruling. The crux of the court's decision is that the government can't just pull the rug out from under hundreds of thousands of young people like it did without considering how they built their entire lives around the policy that existed, she stated.

USCIS and the Department of Homeland Security have yet to respond to inquiries regarding the ruling.

Under this new directive from the judge, current beneficiaries of the program as well as new applicants can submit their applications for protection consideration. Furthermore, the USCIS is required to adjudicate work permit requests from new applicants and those already under deferred action status. Litigation will continue regarding the class certification aspect of the case.