The Hill, June 22, 2023

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressman Jimmy Gomez (CA-34), along with Reps. Zoe Lofgren (CA-18), Adriano Espaillat (NY-13), and 29 additional Members of Congress introduced the Protect Vulnerable Immigrant Youth Act, legislation to fix the Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) program for immigrant children who have been abandoned, abused, or neglected. Congress established the SIJS program in 1990 to protect these youth from additional harm, but in recent years, visa backlogs have prevented the program from keeping these children safe.

Despite being a humanitarian visa, the pathway to a green card for SIJS children runs through the employment-based immigration visa system, subjecting SIJS recipients to annual worldwide and country-specific quotas. This legislation would exempt SIJS children from annual employment-based visa caps, ending years-long case backlogs and allowing these children to move forward with their lives as lawful permanent residents of the United States.

The Sacramento Bee - April 20th, 2022

“A federal judge in San Francisco on Tuesday ordered government immigration officials to hold a bond hearing within 30 days to determine whether Iraqi refugee Omar Ameen can be released back to his family in Sacramento pending deportation proceedings. The 10-page order by U.S. District Judge William Orrick requires the government to “provide Ameen a constitutionally sufficient bond hearing — placing the burden of proof on the government to show by clear and convincing evidence that Ameen remains a flight risk or danger to the community — within 30 days of the date of this order.”

Placing the burden on the government is particularly appropriate in Ameen’s case where the government had amassed significant amounts of evidence from the extradition proceedings, and Ameen had been in federal custody since 2018,” the judge wrote. “There was no basis for placing the burden of proof on Ameen in his initial bond hearing.”

Fox News 40 - March 29th, 2022

Ameen has long been cleared of terrorism charges, but the Iraqi husband and father turned Sacramentan has still been fighting to stay in the U.S. and regain his freedom.

His efforts just took a big step forward in immigration court.

Ameen’s attorneys, Ilyce Shugall and Siobhan Waldron of Immigrant Legal Defense, spoke with Sonseearhay about the legal mountain he still has to climb.

Press Release, March 28, 2022

Ms. Shugall stated, “We are thrilled that the Immigration Judge found what we have been arguing all along—that the government does not have reliable evidence that Mr. Ameen has had any involvement in terrorism. We are also glad she made the right decision to grant him protection so he can remain in the United States safely. We will continue to pursue his immediate release from custody.”

Ms. Waldron noted, “The federal government’s baseless targeting of Mr. Ameen to pursue a political agenda in its War on Terror has always been unacceptable. The Immigration Judge’s findings make it clear that Mr. Ameen’s continued detention in the name of national security is unwarranted and unjustifiable.”