While Cesar’s SIJS application was approved in the fall of 2019, he wouldn’t be able to apply for a green card until this spring, resulting in a four-year wait that created financial struggles for him. For immigrant children like Cesar who aspire to go to college or need financial assistance, not being able to apply for permanent residence excludes them from federal financial assistance like FAFSA. For Cesar, this was devastating. “It was a mental blow because I knew that I had the grades, the academics, but the simple fact that I wasn’t a U.S. citizen closed a lot of scholarship doors for me.” Cesar worked hard to obtain scholarships and grants designated for immigrant students. Through those, and his part-time job at McDonald’s, he is able to study something he is passionate about: software engineering. In 2022, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services made temporary protection known as deferred action available for youth granted SIJS. Now, children who receive SIJS can be protected from deportation for four years and can apply for a work permit. The same year that the protection was introduced, Cesar was granted SIJS Deferred Action. While deferred action does not provide the same stability and pathway to citizenship as lawful permanent residence, it has become a source of temporary relief for many young people stuck in the SIJS backlog, as they wait their turn to apply for a green card. “I’m currently studying so I'm always having this worry about not having a status or knowing what’s going to happen... [Being granted SIJS Deferred Action] felt like less weight on me and the worries I had started to leave,” Cesar said. The ever-growing SIJS backlog creates barriers for immigrant children who are already vulnerable and are trying to create a better future for themselves in the United States. Cesar remembers the feeling of discouragement from not knowing how to finance his education just because of his legal status. “For an immigrant, going to college is a really tough battle economically because they can’t pay for school. So, a lot of immigrants who are studying get discouraged and stop trying. My advice is to not get discouraged and continue forward no matter how difficult your goal is,” Cesar said. | 
