What if you did everything right in order to become a legal resident but lost your place in line simply because you “aged out”? That’s the fate of thousands of children of legal immigrants who turned 21 before their parents receive their permanent resident status. The problem is especially acute for the children of teachers who were recruited by the New York City public school system to fill vacant jobs in the late 1990s, according to The New York Times. The teachers, some 6,000-8,000 of them began teaching in the schools and many brought their families with them–all perfectly legal at the time. But since the school district mis-categorized some of the applicants into the wrong visa pool, some of the teachers did not receive their permanent status in time to have their minor children considered under their application. What that means for the children is that some find themselves suddenly “illegal” if they remain in the U.S. after they turn 21, despite having been raised here. And when these young people try to apply on their own, they move to the back of the line, which can mean decades of waiting for permanent status. The Supreme Court will decide a case that will determine the fate of these young people as early as next week.
