Last Updated: February 18, 2026
IMPORTANT UPDATE: On February 3, 2026, Plaintiffs appealed the court's denial of their motion to clarify or reconsider part of the November 19, 2025, order staying the rescission of the SIJS Deferred Action Policy
A.C.R. et al. v. Noem et al., No.1:25-cv-3962, is a proposed nationwide class action filed by nine immigrant youth and two legal services providers in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. The lawsuit challenges the federal government’s decision to end the Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) Deferred Action Policy. The SIJS Deferred Action Policy provided protection from deportation and the ability to apply for work permits to young people who had been approved for SIJS. Congress laid out a clear path to lawful permanent residency for SIJS beneficiaries, but visa backlogs cause years-long delays before they can apply for their green cards.
The lawsuit—brought by the National Immigration Project, Kids in Need of Defense (KIND), Public Counsel, Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, and Lowenstein Sandler LLP—seeks to reinstate the SIJS Deferred Action Policy, which has protected approximately 200,000 immigrant youth who have survived parental maltreatment and who a state court has determined should not be returned to their countries of origin. The complaint argues that the government violated the Administrative Procedure Act by ending the policy without proper notice or justification, leaving thousands of immigrant youth in legal limbo and at risk of deportation.
On November 19, 2025, the court issued an order staying the government’s rescission of the 2022 SIJS Deferred Action Policy. The court found that the Plaintiffs are likely to succeed on the merits of their claim that the policy reversal was unlawful for several reasons, including because the government did not consider reliance interests or alternatives to rescinding the policy. The court also ruled that, absent the stay, the Plaintiffs were likely to face irreparable harm because of the heightened risk of removal they would face without the protection of deferred action. The opinion did not grant everything the Plaintiffs requested, as the court deferred a ruling on class certification and chose not to require that deferred action adjudications take place within any particular timeframe. However, the court stayed the government's rescission of the SIJS Deferred Action Policy and ordered that “the government must therefore conduct deferred-action and employment authorization adjudications pursuant to the 2022 Policy Alert.” The court also enjoined the government from removing the Individual Plaintiffs during the pendency of the litigation.
On December 3, 2025, Plaintiffs moved the court to clarify or reconsider one aspect of its November 19 stay order. Specifically, Plaintiffs asked the Court to clarify that its November order required USCIS to follow its guidance on SIJS deferred action adjudications as set forth in the USCIS Policy Manual prior to the 2025 rescission. The court denied this motion, and on January 14, 2026, issued a decision explaining its denial. The decision stated that the November 19 stay order does not require USCIS to "treat SIJ status as a 'strong factor that weighs heavily in favor of granting deferred action,'" as was required by the pre-rescission USCIS Policy Manual, nor to follow any other provisions of that Policy Manual that exceed the scope of USCIS's March 2022 Policy Alert. The sole exception is for people whose SIJS petitions were approved on or after April 7, 2025, and before June 6, 2025—the date USCIS publicly announced the rescission of the 2022 SIJS Deferred Action Policy. This group is entitled to a deferred action adjudication in accordance with the pre-rescission Policy Manual, including that a SIJS approval be considered a particularly strong positive factor in favor of granting deferred action.
On February 3, 2026, Plaintiffs appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit the part of the court's decision that subjects individuals whose SIJS was approved on or after June 6, 2025, to a significantly less favorable standard for deferred action—one that is inconsistent with the court's order staying the government's rescission of the SIJS Deferred Action Policy.
On February 9, 2026, the government informed the district court that USCIS "intends to revisit its deferred action program for individuals with SIJ classification and determine if the program will be continued as is, revised, or terminated" within approximately 60 days.