Court: Immigrant Children Over 21 Lose Privileges, Go To The Back Of The Visa Line

PHOENIX — The Child Status Protection Act, which allows immigrant children who turn 21 to retain their child status longer or qualify for a valid adult category and keep their initial priority date, was passed by Congress in 2002.

Today, the Supreme Court has ruled otherwise. Those aged-out children still have to go to the back of the line, according to FOX News Latino. 

Justices sided with the Obama administration saying that immigration laws offer relief only to a tiny percentage of children who “age-out” of the system. The majority no longer qualify for the immigration status granted to minors.

This case, however, will not have any impact on recent immigrant children traveling on their own to cross the U.S. border from Mexico.

Immigration advocates assert that the law was passed to promote family unity. According to Catholic LegalImmigration Network, an advocacy group, forcing an aged-out child to go back to the end of the line would increase his or her wait time by more than nine years. By contrast, it says keeping the child’s priority dates would increase the wait time for others by just a few months.