308 A.3d 293
Pa.
2023

LICELY JUAREZ VELASQUEZ v. LIZARDO MARROQUIN MIRANDA

No. 454 MAL 2023

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA MIDDLE DISTRICT

November 27, 2023

Petition for Allowance of Appeal from the Order of the Superior Court

ORDER

PER CURIAM

AND NOW, this 27th day of November, 2023, the Petition for Allowance of Appeal is GRANTED. The issues, rephrased for clarity, are:

  1. Whether the Superior Court, when it determined the Children are not statutorily eligible for special immigrant juvenile status (SIJS) under federal law, misapprehended the role and authority of Pennsylvania courts when such determinations are within the exclusive authority and jurisdiction of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
  2. Whether the Superior Court erred in concluding the Children are not statutorily eligible for SIJS notwithstanding the fact the trial court awarded sole custody to Mother.
  3. Whether the trial court erred in holding Mother failed to meet her burden to prove the predicate findings for SIJS: a) Children‘s reunification with Father is not viable due to abandonment, abuse, neglect, or a similar basis under Pennsylvania law; and b) it is not in the Children‘s best interest to return to Guatemala.