Some Rejected Aliens to Get Work Permits

Aliens who were denied legalization for taking even brief trips out of the country during the one-year amnesty program are to be issued immediate temporary work permits pending a decision on whether to reopen the program for certain aliens, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday.

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco also ordered that aliens in Immigration and Naturalization Service detention facilities who fit the category be released without bond and issued work permits.

Immigrant rights attorneys estimate the ruling may affect between 50,000 and 125,000 aliens.

The order was issued pending a decision on the government’s appeal of a U.S. district court ruling in June that extended the amnesty program several months--beyond the original May 5 deadline--for those who the INS ruled ineligible because they left the country without permission.

Advance Approval

While the immigration law allowed “brief, casual and innocent” trips outside the country by amnesty applicants, the INS maintained that any trip without the agency’s advance approval was not “innocent” and therefore made the alien ineligible.

In April, however, U.S. District Judge Lawrence K. Karlton of Sacramento declared invalid the INS interpretation and later granted the extension, which the government has sought to stay.

The Sacramento case, involving a class-action lawsuit filed in Sacramento in 1986 on behalf of Catholic Social Services and other public interest groups, was the first of several suits that have challenged various aspects of the implementation of the 1986 immigration law by the INS.

The case is also the first to reach the appellate court level and has been closely watched by lawyers involved in the other cases.

“I think the other courts will follow this decision,” said Ralph Abascal of California Rural Legal Assistance and the lead lawyer in the case. “The government was asking for the ability to throw people out of the country who belonged to this class and to not allow them work permits, and obviously the court didn’t agree with that.”

U.S. Lawyers Decline Comment

Lawyers representing the government declined comment.

Pending the outcome of the government appeal, the court ordered that alien members of the class who are apprehended, or already in INS detention, are to be questioned to determine whether they qualify for the court’s interim remedies. If so, they shall be released on their own recognizance.

The ruling also provides that class members not in detention are to be granted work permits by the INS.

The order takes effect immediately, said Peter Schey of the National Center for Immigrants Rights Inc. He added that aliens who traveled outside the United States after May 1, 1986, may file amnesty applications with INS legalization offices and receive work permits. The applications will be held pending the outcome of the appeal.

The court also set an expedited briefing schedule for dealing with the merits of the case. The next hearing is scheduled for November.