In 1990, Congress created a humanitarian protection that allows abused, abandoned, and neglected young immigrants to receive green cards and launch new, safe lives in the U.S.—in theory. In reality, impacted young people face a yearslong wait before they can get their green cards, during which they're at risk of deportation and unable to make long-term plans.
The protection is called Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS), and thanks to a strange technicality in the law, a staggering number of young people are stuck in limbo, harmed by the very process that Congress created to protect them.
