The United States Department of Homeland Security is currently investigating into the possible scheme to exploit Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, or SIJS, a path to a green card by using a federal law intended to protect abused child victims of sex trafficking.

“Under the federal William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Act, initially enacted in 1990 and reauthorized in 2008, [the applicants] have to do to get a judge to sign off on the guardianship is to say they are younger than 21, undocumented, unmarried, abandoned or abused by one parent and that they would be better off staying in the U.S.

“Court insiders suspect the [libelous applicants] have learned to exploit the law with the help of lawyers and criminal human smugglers believed to be profiting from the scheme, sources told the [investigators].”

The problem with this fraud is that the State Department will look to place stricter rules on the SIJS claims, which really do save many young people from violent and abusive families.  “Judges say it is hard for them to know when they are being told the truth, because the stories of abuse are one-sided and allegedly took place in faraway homelands.”

To read the full story from NBC New York, click here.