Young Immigrant with SIJ Status Deported After Record Misinterpretation

Yurin Quiroa Ralda arrived in the United States as a teenager escaping gang violence and was later granted Special Immigrant Juvenile status because his father abandoned his family. After years on a visa-cap waitlist, he became eligible to apply for a green card, but ICE detained him after a cousin’s traffic stop in West Virginia and sent him to a detention facility in Pennsylvania. The Biden administration had provided him with deferred action, yet the Trump administration terminated that safeguard and a judge ordered his removal to Ecuador, a country he had never visited.

Officials claimed he had multiple assault charges, but court-obtained police records show no such offenses, only misdemeanor traffic violations. His habeas corpus challenge was rejected because he was still within a mandatory 90-day detention period, and his deferred action was later revoked. Attorneys argue the actions amount to retaliation and a breach of due-process rights, while DHS maintains the deportation follows standard immigration law. The episode underscores systemic issues affecting thousands of young immigrants with SIJ status.