Cardozo Law Review
Abstract
This Note argues that a minor’s diminished decisional capacity should be recognized as an affirmative defense when a permanent bar that is triggered during minority strips away a noncitizen’s opportunity to gain lawful status in the United States. Dreamers and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients, individuals who arrived in the United States as children, are victims of punitive immigration laws that have extinguished any possibility of securing lawful residency in the United States. Even more egregiously, Dreamers and DACA recipients are subject to these permanent bars despite lacking the intent and capacity to fully understand the long-term consequences of actions undertaken by either the minor or a third party on their behalf during their minority. These harsh penalties include the permanent inadmissibility bar, section 212(a)(9)(C)(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), and the section 212(a)(6)(C)(ii) bar that activates when a noncitizen falsely claims U.S. citizenship. This Note proposes that section 212(a)(9)(B)’s minor exception be extended, or a comparable version be applied, to sections 212(a)(9)(C)(i) and 212(a)(6)(C)(ii) of the INA. This Note’s proposal further offers a sensible path, grounded on reinterpretation of the permanent bars post-Loper Bright, to provide an alternative form of relief for noncitizens that are permanently barred on account of decisions orchestrated in their youth.
Disciplines
Civil Rights and Discrimination | Immigration Law | Law
Recommended Citation
Dianara R. Ibarra,
The Permanent Bar(s): The Unprincipled Cage of Retribution for Immigrant Youth,
47
Cardozo L. Rev.
795
(2026).
Available at:
https://larc.cardozo.yu.edu/clr/vol47/iss2/24