August Deadline Approaching For Motions To Reopen Under Walters Settlement

IMMIGRATION LAW & POLICY

Removal Procedures and Defenses

AUGUST DEADLINE APPROACHING FOR MOTIONS TO REOPEN UNDER WALTERS SETTLEMENT
Immigrants' Rights Update, Vol.17, No. 4, July 15, 2003

Aug. 21, 2003, is the deadline for class members in Walters v. Reno who have final orders of deportation to request that the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (BICE) join in motions to reopen their deportation cases.

Walters is a class action challenge to the procedures used by the Immigration and Naturalization Service to initiate civil document fraud proceedings under section 274C of the Immigration and Nationality Act. In 2001, the court gave final approval to a settlement of the litigation, and under the settlement the INS vacated the 274C final orders of document fraud that were issued against non–U.S. citizens who either waived or failed to request a document fraud hearing. The settlement provides for a two-year period, which will end Aug. 21, in which class members who have final deportation orders, but who are now eligible for some form of relief from deportation or are no longer deportable, may make a written request that the INS (now BICE) join in a motion to reopen the deportation case. During this period, class members who paid a fine pursuant to a 274C final order that has been vacated may also request a refund from the agency. A copy of the Walters settlement, and further information about it, may be obtained at the NILC website, www.nilc.org, under “Immigration Law and Policy.”