 COURT REJECTS INS AMNESTY APPEAL
This week the Ninth Circuit rejected the government’s appeal of its prior ruling that those whose applications for amnesty under the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act were improperly rejected be allowed to reapply. The case, widely known as LULAC because it was filed by the League of United Latin American Citizens, has been going on for 14 years.
The 1986 amnesty required applicants to have remained unlawfully in the US for a specific period of time, but made an exception for absences that were “brief, casual and innocent.” However, a large number of people who had left the US for brief periods, often to visit family, were rejected out of hand, a process known as front-desking. LULAC filed suit, claiming that the INS was wrongly interpreting the law. Court by and large agreed, but government appeals and procedural issues kept the case in the courts for more than a decade, and meant that thousands of people lived life in limbo.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs estimate that as many as 100,000 people could benefit from the court’s ruling.
Unfortunately, even this ruling may not be the end of the saga, as the government is still deciding whether it will appeal.
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