The US Supreme Court has made it easier for undocumented immigrants seeking to avoid deportation to get another chance at a court hearing. In Nken v. Holder, the court decided the case of Jean Marc Nken, a Cameroonian citizen who came to the US in 2001 and did not leave when his visa expired. According to The Associated Press, Nken has since applied for asylum, married a US citizen and had a child born in the US. However, immigration authorities and federal courts have repeatedly rejected his claims.
The federal courts split on what standard to apply to requests to temporarily block deportation while taking another look at immigration cases. The 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals applied a tough standard to Nken’s request for a stay, sending it to SCOTUS. In a 7-2 decision, Chief Justice John Roberts overturned the appeals court and ordered Nken v. Holder to be sent back for reconsideration.
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The Associated Press reports that a US District Judge has ordered DHS to reopen the cases of 22 people who were denied green cards because their American spouses died during the application process. Judge Christina A. Snyder ruled the “widow penalty” doesn’t require that immigrants’ permanent residency applications be denied simply because their American spouse has died. Snyder, citing a 2006 decision by the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals, ruled that applicants do not lose their status as spouses of US citizens if the death occurs before the government rules on their applications.
The decision, if made final, could positively affect over 200 people across the country who have been affected by the penalty, said Brent Renison, the attorney who filed the class action suit. “The case is very significant because it’s the first that follows the circuit court decision and gives guidance to the agency on what it can and cannot do in these situations,” Renison said of the decision.
A DHS spokeswoman said she could not comment on the lawsuit, but she said addressing the widow penalty has been a priority in the department since new DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano took office earlier this year. “A review of our legal, legislative, and other possible means to address the problem is underway,” she said.
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A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit that sought to use anti-mob legislation to stop a New Jersey property manager from renting apartments to undocumented immigrants, The Associate Press reports. Attorneys for the Federation for American and Immigration Reform, a group that calls for stricter immigration reform, argued that Connolly Properties, a large landlord with apartment buildings in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, rented so many apartments to undocumented immigrants that it constituted harboring under federal racketeering laws.
Judge William J. Martini dismissed the case. “The crux of Plaintiff’s argument is that renting apartments to illegal aliens constitutes racketeering activity because it constitutes harboring, encouraging, or inducing an illegal alien in violation of the INA, he wrote in his decision. “However, no court in this circuit or in any other has ever found this to be the case … renting an apartment to an alien does not amount to harboring, encouraging, or inducing.”
