 NEWS BYTES
The INS has requested that the Attorney General review Matter of R-A, an asylum case from 1999. In the case, a woman who had suffered incredibly severe abuse at the hands of her husband in Guatemala was denied asylum. The Board of Immigration Appeals found that while she had without doubt suffered, it was not on account of her membership in any particular social group. The decision created massive uproar among advocacy groups and now the INS has responded. The INS has asked the Attorney General to vacate the decision and remand to the BIA. The INS also wants the BIA to wait until a recently released rule on asylum becomes effective, and then decide the case under that rule.
*********
This week, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case involving the disparate treatment of children born abroad and out of wedlock to US citizen mothers and fathers. A man who was born in 1969 to a US citizen father and Vietnamese mother brought the case. Tuan Anh Nguyen was raised by his father and has lived with him in the US since he was six. Nguyen was ordered deported in 1997 and fought his deportation by claiming that he was a US citizen. The law automatically makes children born out of wedlock to US citizen mothers citizens, but requires fathers to officially legitimate the child before their 18th birthday. Nguyen obtained such an order, but he was 23 at the time. Nguyen and his father, who is also a party to the suit, argue that the law violates equal protection by treating mothers and fathers differently. In a 1998 case, five Supreme Court justices indicated that the law could be challenged on equal protection grounds, but did not reach the issue because the case was decided on technical grounds.
*********
According to an attorney who represents several employees in the Miami INS office, the employees were ordered to destroy all files in the office relating to the Elian Gonzalez case. In a deposition given as part of a case brought by Elian’s Miami relatives against the US government, Donald Appignani, who represents the union that represents INS employees, said that employees told him that they “were instructed to remove anything derogatory to the Elian Gonzalez case.” Attorneys for both the Miami family and the US government are supporting a motion to compel Appignani to reveal all that he knows about the allegation. Appignani also says that employees have said that there is an anti-Cuban atmosphere at the Miami office.
*********
Broward County, Florida, school officials say that 7,000 foreign born students enrolled in the school system this year, a much higher number than the average of 3,000 it has received in years past. Officials realized that the number was much higher than expected when they learned there were 4,000 more students than expected in English as a Second Language programs. The county school superintendent says there are two primary reasons for the increase in the number of foreign born students – growing political instability in Central and South American countries and a larger number of immigrant workers attracted by high-tech jobs.
*********
The Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Church in New York, along with representatives from area unions and community organizations, pledged their support to continue working to secure an amnesty for undocumented immigrants. During a service last Monday, attended by immigrants from around the world, prayers were heard in Chinese, Creole, English, Italian, Polish and Spanish. The service was part of an ongoing effort by the Church calling for reform of US immigration laws.
*********
About 75 people protested outside the San Bernardino, CA, City Hall in response to a letter written by the city attorney. The letter offered to buy Hispanic immigrants who were forced to leave their homes after they were condemned a one-way ticket to Mexico. The protesters called for the attorney, James Penman, to issue a public apology. The letter was unsolicited and was sent to an area resident who had publicly commented on the situation saying “in Mexico, they treat us better than here.” Penman has said that he will not apologize. Many of Penman’s supporters are nonetheless concerned that his remarks will be interpreted as racist.
*********
Jesse Jerry Gardona, a former INS agent who recently pled guilty to conspiracy to transport and harbor immigrants, was sentenced to 18 months in prison this week. Gardona worked with the anti-smuggling unit when he released a number of people from detention and gave them to a person who held them for ransom.
| 
