What is Happening with Deferred Action for Special Immigrant Juveniles (SIJs)?

“USCIS’s SIJS deferred action (DA) policy began in 2022 and provided that USCIS would automatically consider granting DA to people with approved SIJS, if the person could not yet apply for SIJS-based adjustment of status solely because they did not have a visa available. Many young people were granted DA based on SIJS in the years that followed. USCIS officially terminated the SIJS DA policy last year on June 6, 2025, though advocates learned through FOIA litigation that it had in fact quietly terminated the policy internally on April 7, 2025.

Advocates filed the lawsuit ACR v. Noem, challenging the termination of the DA policy. On November 19, 2025, the district court issued a stay of the government’s rescission of the SIJS deferred action policy, finding that the way in which the government terminated the policy was unlawful. Plaintiffs then moved for clarification or reconsideration of footnote 24 in the court’s
decision, which states that “this order should not be read to suggest that USCIS remains bound by the 2024 Policy Manual or any prior presumption in favor of granting deferred action to SIJS recipients.” On January 14, 2026, the court issued an opinion denying Plaintiff’s motion for reconsideration. Plaintiffs appealed, and the appeal remains pending before the Second Circuit. This means that although the SIJS DA policy was restored, the order only requires the government to automatically consider granting SIJs deferred action. It does not require USCIS to apply the favorable guidance from the USCIS Policy Manual that gave great weight to the approved SIJS petition (except for those petitions approved between April 7 and June 5, 2025 – see … chart for additional guidance).”