Supreme Court to Hear CSPA Case

Supreme Court to Hear CSPA Case

The Legal Action Center reported that on December 10, the Supreme Court will hear oral argument in the consolidated Child Status Protection Act (CSPA) cases Cuellar de Osorio v. Mayorkas and Costelo v. USCIS.  The issue in these cases is whether the benefits for aged-out derivative beneficiaries in INA § 203(h)(3) are available to derivative beneficiaries of all visa petition categories, not just the Family 2A category, as the government contends.  The government and the petitioners have filed their briefs, and amici curiae will file briefs next week.  The American Council will submit an amicus brief highlighting compelling cases to help put a human face on the otherwise technical legal CSPA provision.

The LAC also continues to litigate against other restrictive interpretations of the CSPA.  In September, the LAC filed anamicus brief in the Seventh Circuit challenging the BIA’s narrow interpretation of the phrase “sought to acquire the status of a lawful permanent resident,” found in the CSPA’s age-preservation formula.  We argue that the phrase should include substantial steps taken towards filing an application for permanent residence.  We urge the Court to reject the Board of Immigration Appeals decision in Matter of O. Vasquez, 25 I&N Dec. 817 (BIA 2012), which held that the term required either the filing of an application or a showing of extraordinary circumstances for having failed to file.  The case is Velasquez Garcia v. Holder, No. 13-2610 (7th Cir. amicus brief submitted Sept. 30, 2013).