Thread: Group of Guatemalan immigrants facing deportation file suit

How did they get social security numbers?
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Group of Guatemalan immigrants facing deportation file suit in LA04/03/07 22:21:36

Hundreds of Guatemalan immigrants facing deportation sued the U.S. government Tuesday, claiming they should have been granted asylum years ago.
"These are refugees who have been in this country for 15 years in some cases, who have work permits, who have Social Security numbers," said Byron Vasquez, director of the Los Angeles-based advocacy group Casa de la Cultura de Guatemala. "We want to suspend any deportation. They should stay."

Government officials had not seen the lawsuit and could not comment Tuesday, said Sharon Rommery of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

In the early 1990s, hundreds of thousands of Guatemalans sought asylum in the United States while their home country was embroiled in civil war. Federal officials have since denied their claims, determining there was no longer a threat because fighting ended a decade ago.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, contends it is not the fault of applicants that so much time elapsed between the filing and processing of their asylum claims.

Immigration officials have said asylum applications are evaluated on current fear or danger of persecution in a foreign country.

There are about 200 families involved in the lawsuit but the outcome could affect close to 200,000 Guatemalan immigrants across the country, Vasquez said.

http://www.fresnobee.com/384/v-printerf ... 39662.html

Yet another snafu created by our government's latency in trying to enforce anything that resembles the actual immigration laws that are in the books.

A sad story but yet another glaring black eye showing that continued inaction will only let the problem fester. Firing up the old immigration law enforcement train is indeed painful, but I guarantee its less painful to do it now than in another 15 years.

Is this the new trend. The U.S. tries to deport them and they automatically try to tie the action up in court. It must be nice to come to a country illegally and have unlimited access to taxpayers dollars for lawsuits. Sometimes I feel the only rights we I have is to pay their expenses.