Justices May Hold Fate of Children Who Lost Place in Immigration Line.
Desperate to fill classroom vacancies, New York City school officials sent recruiting teams around the world in the late 1990s, promising jobs and help in obtaining green cards that would be a a path to citizenship.
Thousands of teachers arrived to educate other people’s children. But those teachers’ children say their own dreams have been dashed for a simple reason: They lost their places in the slow-moving immigration system because they turned 21 before their parents received their green cards. Now the children’s future and the fate of many young immigrants across the country in the same situation may hinge on an immigration case that the Supreme Court is expected to decide soon, perhaps as early as Monday.
Under federal law, immigrants can name children under 21 as dependents on their applications. But unless the parents receive green cards before the children turn 21, the children “age out” of the immigration system. So they face a painful choice as they approach adulthood: remain here illegally or return to countries they left years ago. . .
That is one issue in the Supreme Court case, which involves a California woman who immigrated from El Salvador in 1998 and whose son aged out before she received her green card. An administrative immigration tribunal ruled in 2008 that when he turned 21, he lost his spot in the long line for permanent residency and would have to start over.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/19/nyregion/justices-may-hold-fate-of-children-who-lost-place-in-immigration-line.html?hp&_r=0