Impact: Overturning Federal Policy
DACA
When nearly 2,000 DACA recipients across the country had their renewal applications rejected despite having sent them weeks in advance of the deadline, I uncovered the truth: the mail was delayed and the government was responsible. Because of my series of articles, these applicants who had been brought to the country as young people, were able to continue to have legal status and stave off deportation.
JUVENILE IMMIGRANTS
My story resulted in the government walking back another federal policy it had arbitrarily changed under President Trump. Children who fled their home countries because they had been neglected, abandoned or abused by a parent had been allowed to apply for a humanitarian visa known as Special Immigration Juvenile Status up to the age of 21. But the government decided that those aged 18 to 21 were not considered juveniles by the state of New York. I uncovered this change, legal advocates sued, and they subsequently won in federal court. Now more than 3,000 young New Yorkers have a chance to become citizens of the United States.
A Rule Is Changed for Young Immigrants, and Green Card Hopes Fade
YEMEN
Yemeni immigrants told me how they suffered at the hands of consular officers in the U.S. embassy in Sana before the civil conflict closed it down. When waiting for birth certificates or visas, their U.S. passports were confiscated, and they were held in windowless rooms for hours. The State Department claimed these U.S. citizens had falsified documents to get their passports. But an internal investigation three years later found that the government had acted unfairly in 31 cases.
Yemeni-Americans, Thrust Into Limbo, Say U.S. Embassy Unfairly Revokes Passports
State Dept. Improperly Seized Passports of Americans in Yemen, Inquiry Finds
Photo Credit: Jim Wilson/The New York Times