More than 250,000 children of legal immigrants, many of them Indian-Americans, are at risk of being deported from the United States due to the “aging out” problem. Known as ‘documented Dreamers’, these children came to the US with their parents on temporary work visas but now face deportation when they turn 21 and have lost their dependent status.
The National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP) studied US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) data as of November 2 and found that Currently 1.2 million Indians including dependents are waiting for Green Card In EB-1, EB-2 and EB-3 categories. This number is taken from Forbes report.
According to the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), a child is a person who is unmarried and under the age of 21. If a person applies for lawful permanent resident (LPR) status as a child but turns 21 before being approved for a green card, he or she is no longer considered a child for immigration purposes.
This is called “aging out,” and it means the person may have to make a new application, wait longer for a green card, or may not be eligible for one at all.
The White House has blamed Republicans for the legislative impasse, saying they twice rejected a bipartisan compromise, according to news agency PTI.
“I talked about the bipartisan agreement that came out of the Senate where we negotiated a process to help the so-called documented Dreamers. And sadly, Republicans, and I’ve said this many times on this podium today, they voted it down twice. They voted it down twice,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters at her daily news conference.
US lawmakers appealed for action
On June 13, a group of 43 lawmakers led by Senator Alex Padilla, Chair of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, and Border Security, and Representative Deborah Ross, urged the Biden administration to take immediate action to protect these individuals.
“These young people grow up in the United States, complete their education in the American school system, and graduate with degrees from American institutions. However, because of long green-card backlogs, families with approved immigrant petitions often must wait decades to be granted permanent resident status,” the lawmakers wrote, PTI reported.
Stories of struggles of documented dreamers
Improve the Dream, the organization representing these children, met with over 100 congressional offices and senior administration officials to advocate for solutions.
“The lack of action and related proposed rules being deprioritized and delayed is disappointing. I hope President Biden and the administration will see the support from this bipartisan letter and show they care about one of the most bipartisan issues in Congress,” Deep Patel, founder of Improve the Dream, told PTI.
Individuals like Jeffrina, who came to the U.S. at age 7, and Pranita, who arrived at age 8, have had to resort to temporary visa solutions to avoid self-deportation.
“My youth has been a series of temporary measures to avoid self-imposed exile,” said Zephrina, now a graduate student in Minnesota. “I graduate from my master’s program in December and I am again at the crossroads of leaving my family, pets, and friends behind.”
Pranitha, a cloud engineer in Texas, has been living in the US for over 15 years but faces uncertainty about her permanent residency status.
Similarly, Roshan, who came to the US at the age of 10, was forced to leave the country last month after he aged out in 2019 despite spending nearly 16 years in the US, PTI reported.
Dwarkesh Patel, a podcaster who often features faces like Jeff Bezos, Tony Blair and others on his show, Dwarkesh Podcast, has also shared his story on X, saying, “My family moved to the US when I was 8, but when I turned 20, my father was still on H1B (waiting to be processed for a green card). When I turned 21, I became an adult as his dependent, despite the fact that I basically grew up in the US. I thought I would have to become a code monkey after college, and that too only if I was lucky enough to win the H-1B lottery. Otherwise, it would be back to India.”