NEW YORK, August 12, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- Ten years ago a little girl and her father left the Central African Republic to emigrate to the U.S. This year, that little girl -- now a 20-year-old woman whose parents are deceased -- learned that immigration authorities in New York City denied her request for residency status.
"Michelle," whose name has been changed to protect her identity, was placed in foster care six years ago to protect her from chronic sexual abuse at the hands of her father. In January 2002, she applied to the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (BCIS), the agency formerly known as "INS," for Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, a special application that helps undocumented youth in foster care obtain legal permanent residence status -- a green card -- and allows them to work legally and to be eligible for educational financial aid. Eighteen months later, and just six months shy of her 21st birthday when BCIS will no longer consider her eligible for the Juvenile Status, the agency has denied Michelle's application, essentially barring her access to the skills that would allow her to become an independent adult. She now fears she will have to return -- alone and without family ties -- to the Central African Republic.
Monika Batra, an Equal Justice Works public interest law fellow and an attorney with The Door, the New York City-based youth services organization representing Michelle, is challenging the BCIS denial and the claim that her client willfully misrepresented in her application a previous "arrest." Batra asserts that not only was Michelle falsely accused of sending a harassing letter to a woman, but also that she was not arrested according to New York laws and the charges were ultimately dropped. "My client was never picked up, read her rights, nor handcuffed. Her freedom was never restricted. She was never told to go to court and she was never appointed a lawyer. The matter was resolved through mediation. Why would she ever think she had been arrested? For BCIS to claim that she willfully misrepresented the arrest is just a ridiculous and shameless way of denying a young immigrant woman her chance to live independently, and a way for BCIS to force a lengthy and expensive appeal process."
Batra also notes that cases such as Michelle's are not unusual since September 11th and that "BCIS in New York City has become a place of denying opportunity instead of a haven that grants benefits to those who have reached our shores. The impact of the post-9/11 anti-immigrant sentiment is still very much alive and its impact is felt by many abused, abandoned, and neglected youth warehoused in foster care."
The Door is a comprehensive youth center in New York City that provides over 20 free and confidential programs and services to nearly 6,000 New York City youth annually.
Monika Batra is an Equal Justice Works Fellow hosted by The Door and sponsored by the law firm of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz.
Equal Justice Works, formerly the National Association for Public Interest Law (NAPIL), leads the country in organizing, training and supporting public service-minded law students and in creating summer and postgraduate public interest jobs. Through more than eight million dollars in annual donations from prestigious law firms, corporations and foundations, Equal Justice Works funds law students and lawyers in programs that bring justice to millions of low-income persons and families.