Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, November 27, 1993 TAG: 9311270196
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Justice Sandra Day O'Connor temporarily lifted a lower court order that had protected the aliens from deportation.
O'Connor noted the high court ruled against another group of aliens in a similar case in June. The immigration rights groups that won the lower court order appeared to lack legal standing, she said, but added that the aliens could sue on their own behalf.
The 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act offered legal residency to all illegal aliens who lived in the United States continuously since Jan. 1, 1982. The one-year period for applying for amnesty expired May 4, 1988.
In 1989, a federal judge in Seattle gave some aliens a new chance to seek legal status under the amnesty program.
The judge ordered the Immigration and Naturalization Service to take a new look at cases involving aliens who failed to comply with address reporting requirements, who violated the terms of visas before Jan. 1, 1982, and who were incorrectly reinstated to lawful resident status after Jan. 1, 1982.
About 20,000 to 50,000 aliens are involved, their lawyer said, adding that some were denied legal status under the amnesty program, while others did not apply because they expected to be rejected.
U.S. District Judge Barbara Rothstein last summer barred immigration officials from deporting those aliens while their cases were pending. Rothstein, of Seattle, ordered the INS to give the aliens work permits and either act on their cases within 90 days or provide them notice.
The government is appealing her order to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. O'Connor lifted Rothstein's order until the appeal is decided.
by CNB