“This memorandum offers up to date procedures to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Companies (USCIS) Asylum Division personnel on figuring out jurisdiction over asylum functions filed by unaccompanied alien children1 (UACs) below the preliminary jurisdiction provision of the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Safety Reauthorization Act of 2008 (TVPRA), Public Regulation 110-457. This memorandum implements the settlement settlement in J.O.P. v. U.S. Dept. of Homeland Safety et al., Civil Motion 8:19-cv-01944 (D. Md.) (J.O.P. settlement settlement), efficient on November 25, 2024.”
Wendy Wylegala, Senior Director, Authorized Technique, Youngsters in Want of Protection (KIND) studies: “On February 24, 2025, a new USCIS memo took impact, implementing the J.O.P. settlement settlement and relevant to J.O.P. class members in addition to others beforehand decided to be unaccompanied kids (UC). The memo is titled, “Up to date Procedures for Dedication of Preliminary Jurisdiction over Asylum Purposes Filed by Unaccompanied Alien Kids and Implementation of the J.O.P. Settlement Settlement.” It largely supersedes the 2013 Kim Memo. The brand new USCIS memo will stay in impact for at the very least three years (i.e. till at the very least February 24, 2028). The USCIS memo discusses asylum workplace jurisdiction over asylum functions filed by people decided to be unaccompanied kids (UC), even when they’re in elimination proceedings. Amongst different issues, the memo directs USCIS to take preliminary jurisdiction over asylum functions of people with prior UC determinations, even when the person has, by the point they file their asylum utility, reached 18 or reunited with a guardian or authorized guardian. The memo permits USCIS to reject jurisdiction if the applicant is in elimination proceedings and was positioned into grownup ICE detention earlier than submitting for asylum. In instances the place there was no prior UC willpower, the memo directs USCIS to evaluate whether or not the applicant met the UC definition on the time of submitting. To find the memo on the uscis.gov net web page, go to: Home > Humanitarian >Refugees and Asylum > Asylum >Minor Children Applying for Asylum By Themselves, then increase the part “Associated Hyperlinks,” the place the memo is posted as https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/memos/JOP_UAC_Procedures_Memo_1.30.25.pdf. Separate from the USCIS implementing memo, J.O.P. class members have extra protections below the settlement agreement, together with with respect to ICE. Class members are those that, by Feb. 24, 2025:(1) had been decided to be a UC; (2) filed an asylum utility that was pending with USCIS; (3) on the date they filed their asylum utility with USCIS, had been 18 years outdated or older, or had a guardian or authorized guardian in america accessible to supply care and bodily custody, and (4) whose asylum utility USCIS has not adjudicated on the deserves. To be taught extra concerning the J.O.P. settlement settlement, you may learn our practice alert and key takeaways and go to our J.O.P. webpage. Class members who imagine that USCIS or ICE has violated the settlement settlement ought to full a form discovered on our J.O.P. webpage and e-mail it to class counsel at DG-JOPClassCounsel@goodwinlaw.com. “
