Practical Tips and Strategies for Litigating SIJS Cases During COVID

This CLE will cover practical tips and strategies to troubleshoot common issues coming up in litigating Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) cases during the global COVID-19 pandemic. While the presenters will discuss their experiences litigating in New York courts, the strategies presented are nationally applicable. The course will review the current NYC Family Court COVID-19 policy issued on 7/31/20 outlining revised procedures since the courts are not currently accepting new filings where Special Findings for SIJS are sought, like guardianship and custody cases, except for extreme age-out cases. The program will discuss best practices for working with family court to get cases adjudicated in time and in good shape for subsequent adjudication by USCIS. Lastly, the program will also cover how to troubleshoot common issues and recent trends in USCIS Requests for Evidence (RFE), and issues affecting over-18 cases for RFM v. Nielsen class members, such as the need for obtaining nunc pro tunc revised Special Findings Orders, and USCIS' expanded use of their "consent function" as a basis for the denial.

This course is presented by Rebecca Sosa and Justyna Gawel, Liz Rieser-Murphy from the Legal Aid Society, Molly Coe from VOLS, and Alex Rizio from the Safe Passage Project.

Learning Objectives:

1. Troubleshooting common issues in litigating SIJS cases in removal

2. Discuss best practices and practical tips to obtain a favorable SIJS decision under a very tight schedule

3. Gain guidance on drafting a strong Special Findings Order based on current USCIS adjudication trends

4. Obtain quick tips if you need to appeal Family Court and USCIS denials

5. Develop strategies to respond to USCIS Request for Evidence (RFE)

6. Review adjudication trends from USCIS, including the expansion of "consent function" as a basis for denial of SIJS cases