FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE AG
THURSDAY, JULY 10, 1997 (202) 616-2765
TDD (202) 514-1888
ADMINISTRATION PROPOSES FINETUNING FOR 1996 IMMIGRATION LAW
TO MITIGATE HARSH EFFECTS OF APPLYING NEW RULES TO
PENDING CASES
WASHINGTON -- Fulfilling the promise by President Clinton to
find a fair and reasonable solution for thousands of Central
Americans and others whose cases were pending when Congress
changed the standard for humanitarian relief from deportation,
Attorney General Janet Reno today announced actions by the
Administration to mitigate the harsh effects caused by applying
new laws to their pending cases.
Reno announced that she would vacate and review the Board of
Immigration Appeal's (BIA) decision in the Matter of N-J-B, where
the BIA ruled that time spent in deportation proceedings could no
longer count toward the residency requirement for suspension of
deportation (the "stop-time" rule).
She also announced next week the Administration will
transmit to Congress a legislative proposal that would eliminate
certain provisions of the law governing suspension of
deportation. In practical terms, the proposal would enable
applicants for suspension of deportation whose cases were pending
prior to April 1, 1997 and who meet the standards which applied
at that time, to be granted such relief on a case-by-case basis.
Reno said that she had called several Senators and Members
of Congress to brief them on the Administration's plan, and had
informed Speaker Gingrich that if the legislative proposals are
not enacted, the Administration is willing to consider any
available administrative option, including Deferred Enforced
Departure, to protect from deportation ABC class members and
participants in the Nicaraguan Review Program.
"We must recognize the special circumstances of individuals
whose cases were pending when the new law was enacted, and avoid
any unfairness that could come from applying new rules to pending
cases," said Reno. "We want to ensure that the 1996 immigration
law will not have an unduly harsh effect on those individuals who
have made vital contributions to their local communities here in
the United States, while putting down deep roots in our nation
and abiding by our laws."
Background
The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility
Act of 1996 (IIRIRA) severely restricts the availability of
suspension of deportation -- the remedy traditionally available
to deportable aliens who have resided in the U.S. for
considerable periods of time. Under the old law, suspension
could be granted, at the discretion of the immigration judge, to
an alien who has been present in the United States for seven
years, shows good moral character, and demonstrates that
deportation would cause "extreme hardship" to the alien or to a
spouse, parent, or child who is a lawful permanent resident or a
U.S. citizen.
The new law increased the length of time the alien must have
been present in the U.S. to ten years, and requires them to
demonstrate that their removal would cause "exceptional and
extremely unusual hardship" to a lawful permanent resident or
U.S. citizen spouse, parent or child. These provisions only
apply to cases initiated on or after April 1, 1997. Two other
provisions, however, have been applied to cases pending before
April 1, 1997.
Under the old law, an individual could continue accruing
time toward the needed seven years, even after the deportation
proceedings had commenced. The new law imposes a "stop-time"
rule, which requires that the requisite period be achieved before
the proceeding begin. In a decision known as NJB, the Board of
Immigration Appeals (BIA) held that this rule applies to all
cases where the grant of suspension of deportation was not final
on the date of enactment.
The law also sets a 4,000 cap on the number of suspensions
of deportations that can be granted in any fiscal year, beginning
with this year. This immediate application to cases already in
the pipeline, many of which are still subject to adjudication
under the old standards, has caused disruption in normal case
processing because it has imposed a quantitative limit on what
had previously been a purely qualitative determination,
administered in a decentralized fashion by over 200 immigration
judges.
These changes dramatically reduce the number of migrants
eligible for the humanitarian relief once offered by suspension.
Consequences are most profound for Central Americans who entered
the U.S. in the 1980s in response to civil war and political
persecution, particularly two groups who had been authorized to
remain in the U.S. under various special measures:
* Nicaraguans under the Nicaraguan Review Program (NRP) -
A Reagan Administration program designed to provide an
extra level of review by the INS for Nicaraguans whose
applications for asylum had been denied. The program
ended in June 1995;
* ABC Guatemalans and Salvadorans - As a result of a 1990
court settlement in American Baptist Churches v.
Thornburgh (ABC), Salvadoran and Guatemalan asylum-
seekers who came to the U.S. in the 1980s were
protected from deportation until their asylum claims
could be decided under special adjudication procedures.
The Immigration Reform Transition Act
The Administration's legislative proposal entitled the
"Immigration Reform Transition Act of 1997," will provide a
needed transition for certain persons with immigration
proceedings begun before the 1996 immigration law took effect but
still not yet finally adjudicated.
Under the proposed legislation, individuals whose
deportation cases had commenced before April 1, 1997, will be
required to meet the standards that applied prior to the
effective date of the new law. The "Immigration Reform
Transition Act of 1997" will ensure that deserving requests for
suspension -- including those by certain battered spouses and
children -- in cases pending before April 1 will not be denied
because of the 4,000 case cap.
In addition, the legislation will:
* Clarify that the provision of the 1996 immigration law
requiring a suspension applicant to have satisfied the
physical presence requirement before INS instituted
deportation proceedings against that individual only
applies to cases filed after April 1, 1997. Persons in
deportation proceedings before April 1 will be able to
count their physical presence in the United States
after INS began deportation proceedings against them.
* Specify that all members of the longstanding class
action case American Baptist Churches v. Thornburgh who
request suspension of deportation will be judged by the
pre-April 1 standards.
* Give persons with final orders of deportation 180 days
to file a motion to reopen their proceedings to request
suspension. (Currently, such motions generally must be
filed within 90 days of the date an order of
deportation becomes final.)
"This administration's goal has always been to combat
illegal immigration while preserving our proud history of legal
immigration," said Reno. "We believe that the "Immigration
Reform Transition Act of 1997" will provide the necessary
finetuning to the 1996 law to allow it to achieve both goals."
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