Tell Me How It Ends: An Essay in 40 Questions

by Valeria Luiselli

Usually, the kind of harm the children are fleeing makes them eligible for asylum or SIJ status. This status can be obtained in two steps. First, a family court must determine that they are impeded from reunification with at least one of their parents because of abuse, abandonment, neglect, or a similar basis under state law, and that reunification or return to their home country is not in their best interest. Once the family court makes this ruling, the minor can request SIJ status in the immigration court. Asylum, on the other hand, is granted to people who are fleeing prosecution (or who have a fear of future prosecution) based on their race, religion, nationality, political opinion, and/or association with a particular social group. It is very difficult to be granted asylum because it is not enough that these children have suffered unspeakable harm, that they will continue to fall victim to the systematic and targeted violence of criminal groups. The harm or prosecution must be proved to be because of at least one of those four classifications. The main problem with asylum—the reason lawyers often consider it a secondary choice—is that if it’s granted, the children can never return to their home country, where they fear being persecuted, without jeopardizing their immigration status in the United States.