Parolees Can Adjust Status
On January 5, First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Boston ruled
that that immigrants who marry U.S. citizens may obtain green cards—
even if they had been in deportation proceedings—without having to
leave the U.S. or being barred from returning to the U.S. for 10
years. The case, Succar vs. Ashcroft, was brought by Lebanese native
Wissam Succar, who arrived in the U.S. in 1998 and applied for
asylum. In February 2001, while he was paroled into the U.S. and his
appeal was pending before the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA),
Succar married a U.S. citizen, who applied for a green card on his
behalf. The case was an appeal of a BIA ruling which deemed Succar
ineligible for adjustment of status because he is an “arriving
alien.”
The appeals court was asked to address the validity of a
regulation promulgated in 1997 by Attorney General Janet Reno, 8
C.F.R. 245.1(c)(8), which barred consideration of adjustment of
status for immigrants who have been granted parole status but have
been placed in removal proceedings. The government argued that the
validity of the regulation is not subject to judicial review, and
that in any case, the attorney general’s right to discretion must be
upheld. The court disagreed on both points, saying there is no
statutory bar to review and that the regulation is contrary to the
language and intent of an earlier statute, 8 U.S.C. 1255(a). The
decision only covers deportation cases in the First Circuit, though
legal experts say it will likely be applied in other circuits. [San
Francisco Chronicle 1/7/05; Succar v. Ashcroft ruling 1/5/05 from
]. This item comes from Immigration News Briefs Vol. 8,
No. 2, 1/8/05. For subscription information, go to the Immigration News
Briefs page on AMERICAS.ORG. |
