FIRST ON FOX: An immigration program meant to provide permanent legal status to undocumented migrant children who experience abuse or neglect was, under the Biden administration, offered mostly to illegal immigrants older than age 18, many of whom had criminal records, according to a new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) report obtained by Fox News Digital.
A Trump administration review of the special immigrant juvenile petition program found that between fiscal year 2020 and fiscal year 2024, 198,414 special immigrant juvenile petitions were approved. And in fiscal year 2024, 52% of special immigrant juvenile petitioners were over the age of 18 through a loophole that allowed classification to be offered up to age 20.
Of those petitioners, 60% were male. Massachusetts, New York, Maryland and California are hot spots, states where courts routinely approve special immigrant juvenile predicate orders for legal adults, often based solely on affidavits.
Affidavits alone, often written by the petitioner or a petitioner's lawyer, are used to claim abandonment or neglect. Judges may sign off without hearings.
A Trump administration review of the special immigrant juvenile petition program found that between fiscal year 2020 and fiscal year 2024, 198,414 special immigrant juvenile visas were approved. (Benjamin Lowy for Fox News Digital )
Misuse of the program didn't just occur under Biden. Since 2013, more than 600 MS-13 gang members applied for the special immigrant juvenile visa, according to the DHS report, and more than 500 of them were approved.
The report also identified 853 known or suspected gang members who filed special immigrant juvenile petitions, most of whom were approved.
At least 120 of those petitioning for special immigrant juvenile visas since 2013 have been arrested for murder, and more than 200 of those who had their visas approved were convicted of sex offenses and required to register on the National Sex Offender Registry.
Many petitioners filed when they were older than age 18 and qualified because they were raised with one natural parent and claimed the other parent was not involved in their life, "abandonment," or did not financially support them, "neglect," according to the report.
More than 100 known or suspected members of the 18th Street gang, a criminal group with origins in California and Mexico, had special immigrant juvenile petitions approved since 2013, and dozens of others suspected of involvement in the Tren de Aragua, Sureño and Norteño gangs had approved special immigrant juvenile visas, according to the report.
The Northern Triangle countries of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras accounted for approximately 73.6% of all filings within the special immigrant juvenile program from 2014 to 2024.
In 2024, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services received a petition from a 19-year-old suspected of plotting an Islamic State terror attack in the U.S. after he requested another adult be appointed his legal guardian.
But the new report found that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services decided against interviewing or requiring biometrics for those under the age of 18. Even for those 18 and older, only 36% were asked to submit biometrics.
An Ecuadorian migrant child walks through the river Nov. 20, 2022, in Darién Gap, Colombia. (Jan Sochor/Getty Images)
Since fiscal year 2013, nearly 20,000 special immigrant juvenile petitioners submitted conflicting birth dates, with 18,407 appearing over the age of 21 based on prior records — the program age cutoff.
Fraud may be widespread in countries with weak documentation systems, like Bangladesh, Somalia and Yemen, where birth certificates are easily falsified, the report said.
"Criminal aliens are infiltrating the U.S. through a program meant to protect abused, neglected or abandoned alien children," said U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services spokesman Matthew J. Tragesser. "This report exposes how the open border lobby and activist judges are exploiting loopholes in the name of aiding helpless children."
More than 600 MS-13 gang members applied for the SIJ visa, according to the DHS report, and over 500 of them were approved. (John Alle/Santa Monica Coalition)
In June, the Citizenship and Immigration Services office stopped offering deferred immigration enforcement for special immigrant juveniles. The office said it is looking at new ways to "ensure the SIJ classification remains available for the juveniles it was intended to protect."
Congress first established the program in 1990 to allow young unlawful immigrants that a court has determined cannot reunify with parents due to abuse or neglect to apply for special immigrant juvenile classification, lawful permanent resident status and have an eventual path to U.S. citizenship. But, by law, there are no criminal bars or good moral character requirements for special immigrant juvenile petition approval.