Citing recently passed federal legislation to enhance the protection of child-trafficking victims, a New York state judge has concluded that a Guatemalan teen abandoned by his father on Long Island should remain in the United States.
In E.G. v. M.G., Family Court Judge Robin M. Kent of Nassau County observed that the Trafficking Victims and Protection and Reauthorization Act of 2008 permits a child to petition for special immigrant juvenile status even if there is a fit parent living abroad, so long as the minor has been abused, neglected or abandoned by one parent.
