HARLINGEN, Texas (Border Report) — U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services says a special program that has provided a pathway to legal residency for immigrant youth has been fraught with “significant abuses,” like admitting migrants who were part of violent gangs. And the Trump administration says they are changing the admittance policies.

The Special Immigrant Juvenile (SIJ) program has serious national security concerns and over half of all applicants in one fiscal year were over age 18, according to a recent report by USCIS.

The report, released last week, reviewed over 300,000 petitions for the SIJ program from October 2013 through February. According to the report:

• In Fiscal Year 2024, more than half of the SIJ petitioners were over age 18.
• Nearly 19,000 SIJ petitioners had criminal arrests, including 120 arrested on murder charges.
• More than 500 members or suspected members of MS-13 gangs received SIJ approved.
• Over 200 approved for SIJ had been convicted of sex crimes and were on the National Sex Offender Registry.
• Many petitions entered the United States without inspection.
• Many came from countries that are identified as posing national security concerns: Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Russia, Somalia, and Uzbekistan.

“Criminal aliens are infiltrating the U.S. through a program meant to protect abused, neglected, or abandoned alien children,” USCIS spokesman Matthew Tragesser said. “This report exposes how the open border lobby and activist judges are exploiting loopholes in the name of aiding helpless children.”

Under law, a SIJ petitioner must be under 21 at the time of filing, according to USCIS.

“The most common form of identity fraud involves aliens over 21 years old falsifying their date of birth to qualify for an SIJ I-360,” the form filed for petitioners of the program, the report found.

The report said “in Bangladesh there is virtually no credible verification process involved in acquiring a birth certificate; instead, civil registry officials rely on self-identification. In addition, there is a significant level of corruption among Bangladeshi government officials, exacerbating a situation where acquiring an official birth certificate that contains false information is easy to obtain.”

On June 6, USCIS rescinded the policy of categorically considering deferred action for special immigrant juveniles.

The Trump administration also is exploring further action to mitigate vulnerabilities in the integrity of the SIJ program, address significant national security and public safety concerns, and ensure the SIJ classification remains available for the juveniles it was intended to protect, the agency says.

Sandra Sanchez can be reached at SSanchez@BorderReport.com.