Judge Approves Catholic Social Services Settlement

IMMIGRATION LAW & POLICY

Obtaining Lawful Permanent Residence Status

JUDGE APPROVES CATHOLIC SOCIAL SERVICES SETTLEMENT
Immigrants' Rights Update, Vol. 18, No. 1, February 17, 2004

U.S. Federal Judge Lawrence K. Karlton has approved a settlement agreement in Catholic Social Services Inc. v. Tom Ridge that will allow over 150,000 undocumented immigrants to apply for lawful resident status under the amnesty program created by the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA).

Under IRCA, undocumented persons who had resided in the United States since before 1982 were eligible to legalize their status and eventually apply for permanent residence. The lawsuit challenged an Immigration and Naturalization Service rule that made persons who had traveled briefly abroad during the period of required residence (i.e., between 1982 and the time they applied for amnesty) ineligible for the program. The lawsuit argued that Congress did not intend for such brief trips abroad to disqualify the people who took them from being able to apply for amnesty.

For more on the history of the lawsuit and the settlement agreement's provisions, see "Settlements Reached in CSS and LULAC/Newman; Amnesty Application Period for Class Members Could Begin in March," IMMIGRANTS' RIGHTS UPDATE, Dec. 18, 2003, p. 4. The settlement agreement in Newman v. Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (formerly League of United Latin American Citizens v. INS) has not yet been approved by the federal judge presiding over that case.