INS ANNOUNCES NEW POLICY ON REVIEW OF MANDATORY DETENTION CASES
Responding to increasing pressure from family and immigrant advocates, the INS has instituted a policy for reviewing cases of those who are under an order of deportation but who are not able to be repatriated. For those unable to be deported and facing mandatory detention, a deportation order can become the equivalent of a life sentence in prison.
Cases must be reviewed once during the 90-day removal period following a deportation order. If the detainee is not suitable for release into the community, they will have their case reviewed every six months. Before this policy statement, INS District Directors had the authority to conduct such a review, but the review was discretionary and there was no set time for it to occur.
The INS is concerned with the difficulty of reaching a balance between the need to protect communities and the need to protect the freedom and liberty of those being held without a criminal conviction. In order to achieve this balance, the INS plans on developing uniform, standardized procedures for review of long-term detainees. Further announcements on the development of these procedures will be forthcoming.
UNITED STATES INFORMATION AGENCY
ISSUES REPORT PREDICTING MASSIVE MIGRATION FROM CENTRAL AMERICA
MEXICAN PRESIDENT DISCUSSES
TREATMENT OF IMMIGRANTS DURING CALIFORNIA VISIT
