The Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law published information regarding the nationwide class action settlements in the late amnesty litigation cases titled Catholic Social Services v. Ridge and Newman/LULAC v. BCIS. 

The Notice of Settlement for Catholic Social Services v. Ridge affects the rights of two groups of immigrants who may object to the proposed settlement.  The proposed settlement grants members of these two groups a period of one year to apply for legalization under the 1986 IRCA.  Those applicants who appear to be eligible for legalization will also be entitled to receive temporary employment authorization.  These applications will not be used to deport applicants who are denied legalization.  The full text of the proposed settlement is available for review at www.centerforhumanrights.org/CSSSettlement.pdf.

The first group is all those who were otherwise prima facie eligible for legalization under Section 245A of the INA and who presented completed applications for legalization under this section along with the appropriate fees to an INS officer or agent or Qualified Designated Entity (QDE) employee during the period from May 5, 1987 to May 4, 1988 and whose applications were rejected because an INS officer or QDE employee concluded that they had traveled outside the U.S. after November 6, 1986 without advance parole.

The second group is all those who filed for class membership under Catholic Social Services, Inc. V. Reno, CIV No. S-86-1343 LKK (E.D. Cal.), and who were otherwise prima facie eligible for legalization under Section 245A of the INA, who were informed that they were ineligible for legalization or were refused legalization because an INS officer or QDE employee concluded that they had traveled outside the U.S. after November 6, 1986 without advance parole, and for whom such information or inability to obtain the required forms was a substantial cause of their failure to timely file or complete a written application.

Class members who object to the proposed settlement must mail their written objections on or before December 29, 2003 to the following address:

Clerk (CSS Settlement Objection)

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California

501 I Street

Sacramento, CA 95814

Copies of the written objection must be mailed to both of the following addresses:

Peter A. Schey and Carlos Holguin

Center for Human Rights & Constitutional Law

256 S. Occidental Blvd.

Los Angeles, CA 90057

Earle B. Wilson

U.S. Department of Justice

Office of Immigration Litigation

P.O. Box 878 Ben Franklin Station

Washington, DC 20044

The Notice of Settlement for Newman/LULAC v. BCIS affects the rights of two groups of immigrants who may object to the proposed settlement.  The proposed settlement grants members of these two groups a period of one year to apply for legalization under the 1986 IRCA.  Those applicants who appear to be eligible for legalization will also be entitled to receive temporary employment authorization.  These applications will not be used to deport applicants who are denied legalization.  The full text of the proposed settlement is available for review at www.centerforhumanrights.org/NewmanSettlement.pdf.

The first group of immigrants is all those who are prima facie eligible for legalization under the 1986 IRCA who attempted to file an application with fees with INS or a Qualified Designated Entity (QDE) between May 5, 1987 and May 4, 1988 but had the application refused because they had traveled outside the U.S. and returned with a visitor’s visa, student visa or other type of visa or travel document.

The second group is all those who applied for a work permit under the LULAC/Newman case, who are otherwise prima facie eligible for legalization under the 1986 IRCA and visited an INS or QDE office between May 5, 1987 to May 4, 1988 to apply for legalization without a complete application but were informed by and INS officer or QDE employee that they were ineligible for legalization because they had traveled outside of the U.S. and returned with a visitor’s visa, student visa or other type of visa or travel document, or were refused by the INS or its QDE legalization forms on account of that travel, and for whom such information, or inability to obtain the required application forms, was a substantial cause of their failure to timely file or complete a written application.

Class members who object to the proposed settlement must mail their written objections on or before December 29, 2003 to the following address:

Clerk (Newman Settlement Objection)

U.S. District Court for the Central District of California

312 N. Spring Street

Los Angeles, CA 90012

A copy of the written objection must be mailed to the following address:

Peter A. Schey and Carlos Holguin

Center for Human Rights & Constitutional Law

256 S. Occidental Blvd.

Los Angeles, CA 90057

More information on both class action settlements can be found at http://uscis.gov/graphics/lawsregs/settlement.htm.