United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit ____________________ No. 20-1471 JENNIFER ARGUIJO, Plaintiff-Appellant,

v. UNITED STATES CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION SERVICES, et al., Defendants-Appellees. ____________________

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division. No. 13-cv-05751 — Andrea R. Wood, Judge. ____________________

ARGUED DECEMBER 8, 2020 — DECIDED MARCH 12, 2021 ____________________

Before EASTERBROOK, KANNE, and HAMILTON, Circuit Judges. EASTERBROOK, Circuit Judge. The Violence Against Wom- en Act added to the Immigration and Nationality Act a pro- vision giving “immigrant status” (i.e., permanent residence) to an alien “child” who has suffered domestic violence at the hands of a U.S. citizen: An alien who is the child of a citizen of the United States, or who was a child of a United States citizen parent who within the past 2 No. 20-1471

2 years lost or renounced citizenship status related to an incident of domestic violence, and who is a person of good moral charac- ter, who is eligible to be classified as an immediate relative un- der section 1151(b)(2)(A)(i) of this title, and who resides, or has resided in the past, with the citizen parent may file a petition with the Acorney General under this subparagraph for classifi- cation of the alien (and any child of the alien) under such section if the alien demonstrates to the Acorney General that the alien has been bacered by or has been the subject of extreme cruelty perpetrated by the alien’s citizen parent. For purposes of this clause, residence includes any period of visitation. 8 U.S.C. §1154(a)(1)(A)(iv). Arguijo was born in 1987. Her mother, like her a citizen of Honduras, married a U.S. citizen in 1999 and divorced in 2004 because of his violent behavior. Arguijo had run away the year before, when she was 15, to escape the abuse. The litigation presents a single issue: whether, after the divorce, Arguijo remained a “child” of her mother’s ex-husband. The normal way in which an abused alien child receives immigrant status under the Violence Against Women Act is on petition by the non-abusive parent. Arguijo’s mother could have filed such a petition within two years after her divorce from the abusive man. 8 U.S.C. §1154(a)(1)(A)(iii)(I), (a)(1)(A)(iii)(II)(aa)(CC). But that two-year window is open only to the divorced spouse and does not help Arguijo be- cause her mother died shortly after the divorce. She there- fore had to petition on her own behalf, and the agency re- jected her application because a self-petition may be filed on- ly by someone who “is the child” of an abusive U.S. citizen. The statute defines the word “child” to include a stepchild who is under 21 and was under 18 when the marriage oc- curred. 8 U.S.C. §1101(b)(1)(B). Arguijo meets those timing rules (she was 11 when her mother married the U.S. citizen No. 20-1471 3 and filed on her own behalf before her 21st birthday), but the agency believes that a stepchild loses that status on the natu- ral parent’s divorce from the stepparent. Because, in the agency’s view, Arguijo lost stepchild status in 2004, and only a person who “is” a child of an abusive parent may seek re- lief, the agency denied her application. On review under the Administrative Procedure Act, the district court agreed with the agency. 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6568 (N.D. Ill. Jan. 15, 2020). The agency’s brief pitches its argument on the word “is”. That word could be conclusive if divorce or death necessari- ly ends a stepparent / st