U.S. Department of Homeland Security building in Washington, D.C. Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM

In the wake of a class action lawsuit that forced the Trump administration to reverse course on its denial of green cards to thousands of abandoned and neglected 18-to-20-year-old immigrants, the Legal Aid Society of New York is claiming that the administration has failed to give court-ordered notice about the lawsuit to at least 500 young immigrants.

And that has wrongfully put those immigrants at "further risk of removal" from the United States, said The Legal Aid Society and its co-counsel in the federal suit, Latham & Watkins, in a news release Monday.

As a result, Legal Aid and Latham said Monday that they are "reaching out to the public directly to make sure R.F.M. class members are aware of their rights." The news release appeared to be part of that effort.

The lawsuit centered on the Trump administration in early 2018 allegedly implementing a new policy, without public notice, that had the effect of denying "Special Immigrant Juvenile" status to young immigrants—ranging in age from 18 to 20—who the New York State Family Court found had been abused, abandoned or neglected by one or both of their parents. The status is a form of immigration relief that affords a path to lawful permanent U.S. residence to those awarded it, and U.S. District Judge John Koeltl of the Southern District of New York ruled in March that the administration's new policy had violated the federal Administrative Procedure Act.

Still, at a hearing last week before Koeltl, he ruled that the government had met its duty to send out the court-ordered notices, and he did not order additional action be taken by the government, according to a source with knowledge of what transpired at the hearing. (No transcript of the hearing, and what was ordered, has yet been released, according to both the source and a review of the public online docket in the case.)

But Legal Aid and Latham contend that a compliance report issued by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the Department of Homeland Security entity most directly involved in the lawsuit, made clear that there has been a failure to get notices to at least 500 class members or their counsel. Moreover, according to Legal Aid and Latham, Koeltl in last week's hearing "acknowledged class counsel's concerns regarding notice and remained open to further briefing from the parties on the matter."

"While we are disappointed at the outcome of the hearing in which the court did not impose additional requirements on USCIS to provide notices, we are hopeful that the court may reconsider this ruling in the future." said Beth Krause, supervising attorney of the Immigrant Youth Project at The Legal Aid Society, in the release. "We are now reaching out to the public directly to make sure R.F.M. class members are aware of their rights. We will continue to identify and locate eligible individuals to ensure that these young people have the legal support they need to complete the process of obtaining lawful status through this vital humanitarian program."

A media representative from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services declined to comment. The Department of Homeland Security deferred comment to the USCIS division.

According to the news release from Legal Aid and Latham, adequate notice to class members "is crucial and an issue of fundamental fairness as it notifies youth that they are R.F.M. class members, an important fact when advocating against removal before the Immigration Court."

The lawyers also pointed out that "where applicable, notice alerts immigrant youth that they are eligible to apply to reopen their SIJS and must take steps to reopen their cases within the next two years."

Moreover, they said that "detained class members are at heightened risk of removal as they do not have access to the internet and cannot receive class notice by finding it online," and "they are unlikely to receive any notification of eligibility without a formal notice mailed to their detention center."

"Despite repeated requests from class counsel that detained class members not be removed until their applications are fairly adjudicated, several cases have been reported in which R.F.M. class members were nearly deported," Legal Aid and Latham also said.

"We will continue to work with the thousands of class members to ensure that they get the benefits to which they are entitled under the law," said Latham & Watkins partner Robert Malionek, who helped litigate the successful class action.

In the underling suit, launched in June 2018 and subsequently amended, five unnamed immigrants represented the class. The plaintiffs sought to enjoin USCIS' new policy, contending it ran afoul of the APA and that it was based on an incorrect understanding of federal and state law.

According to Koeltl's decision awarding summary judgment to plaintiffs, the various named government defendants said there was no new policy but just a centralization of the SIJ adjudication process and a proper clarification of the SIJ statute.

Koeltl issued declaratory and injunctive relief, and as part of his order, directed that notices be sent to class members.

In May, it was reported that federal immigration officials believe more than 6,500 at-risk adolescent immigrants in New York were denied special federal protected status following the change in policy in 2018, according to court filings.