Law360 (July 16, 2026, 7:31 PM EDT) -- The Eleventh Circuit said noncitizens who were victims of the Parkland high school shooting, and their families, are not entitled to leave and reenter the country while awaiting their special visas for assisting law enforcement in investigating the crime.

A three-judge panel said in an unpublished opinion that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services regulations require the agency to either provide the petitioners with deferred action on their applications or "parole," which allows them to leave and reenter the country while they are on the waiting list for their U visas, but not necessarily both. The petitioners, the judge said, are confused in believing the authorization of parole makes it available.

"Just because those two options are available for the [agency] to choose from does not mean that the [agency] has authorized one or the other for any particular U-visa petitioner," the panel said. "The [agency] must still choose which one to grant."

The U-visa program grants lawful status to individuals, and their families, who were victims of a crime and who assisted law enforcement in investigating the crime. The nonimmigrant visa protects from deportation and allows the visa holder to legally work in the United States, according to USCIS.

The 21 Parkland, Florida, shooting survivors and their 52 family members seeking visas were based both inside and outside the country when they filed their petitions, according to the decision.

USCIS granted the U.S.-based applicants a deferral — which allows them to remain in the country — while those outside the country were automatically given parole, which allows them to enter the country, the panel noted.

"The [agency] was not required to grant them advance parole, and the domestic petitioners are not entitled to advance parole as a matter of law," the panel said.

The survivors and their families sued USCIS in June 2023 alleging the agency failed to provide them with parole while awaiting their visas, trapping them either inside or outside the United States. The district court dismissed the suit for failure to state a claim.

The appellate court remanded the claims of petitioners outside the country to the district court so it could dismiss them as moot because they had already received the relief they were requesting. When the petitioners were added to the waiting list, the panel said, the agency sent them a letter stating they were conditionally approved for parole.

"The overseas petitioners nevertheless insist that the [agency] must provide them with 'waiting list parole,' which they claim requires something more than the conditional parole they received," the panel said. "But they don't say what more is required. The overseas petitioners have been approved for parole."

Because the number of victims eligible for a U visa exceeds the 10,000 annual available slots, USCIS had established a waiting list and granted applicants either a deferment on their applications or parole, the judges noted.

The panel said that according to the complaint, the waiting list has more than 200,000 people, which could mean some petitioners would not get a U visa for 20 years.

On Feb. 14, 2018, a 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz opened fire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, killing 17 students and faculty members. Families of the Parkland victims filed a lawsuit seeking to hold the FBI accountable for failing to follow up on tips received about Cruz stating he would soon try to kill others and that he had access to guns.

U.S. Circuit Judges Jill Pryor and Robert J. Luck, and U.S. District Judge Virginia Covington sat on the panel for the Eleventh Circuit.

Representatives for the petitioners and the government did not respond to requests for comment Thursday.

The petitioners are represented by Andrea Montavon-McKillip of Montavon McKillip Law, Bradley B. Banias of Bania Law LLC, and Mark A. Prada of Urizar PLLC.

The government is represented by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida.

The case is Bruna Arenales-Salgado-de-Oliveira et al. v. Director, U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services et al., case number 24-12360, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.

--Editing by Lakshna Mehta. 

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