Costelo v Chertoff
Reeves & Associates Appointed Counsel For Nationwide Class Action Lawsuit To Reunite Families
Getting a green card should be a happy time. For thousands of people, however, the joy of coming to America is diluted by the nightmare of separation from their children who have turned twenty-one and are no longer eligible to accompany their parents. The children are referred to as having aged-out. In 2002, Congress passed the Child Status Protection Act (CSPA) to call a halt to this on-going tragedy. Reeves & Associates, a leading national immigration law firm, filed a class action lawsuit, Costelo v. Chertoff, because of the governments refusal to follow the plain language of this law.
The Court defined the class as aliens who became lawful permanent residents as primary beneficiaries of third- and fourth preference visa petitions listing their children as derivative beneficiaries, and who subsequently filed second-preference petitions on behalf of their aged-out unmarried sons and daughters, for whom USCIS have not granted automatic conversion or the retention of priority dates pursuant to 203(h)(3) said Jeremiah Johnson, managing attorney of the San Francisco office of the firm.
The class action lawsuit seeks to compel USCIS to comply with the requirements of CSPA or INA 203(h)(3) and process subsequent petitions filed by the parent using the parents original priority date. It is incomprehensible why USCIS would deny these requests given the plain language of the statute and the Congressional history of CSPA. said Mr. Reeves.
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Reeves & Associates
800 795-8009
