-Caveat Lector- [06/05] Court rules INS can void U.S. citizenship SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A federal appeals court has ruled that the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) can use closed hearings to strip immigrants of naturalized U.S. citizenship obtained by fraud. In an important decision which could affect thousands of pending citizenship cases, a panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals voted 2-1 Friday to overturn an injunction which had blocked procedures in use by the INS, a unit of the Justice Department, since 1998. ``We conclude that the Attorney General does not lack statutory authority to reopen and reconsider her own orders of naturalization,'' Judge Pamela Rymer wrote in the majority opinion, allowing the INS to move forward with denaturalization proceedings. Lawyers for plaintiffs in the class action case quickly condemned the decision, which they vowed to challenge all the say to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary. A spokesman for the INS told the Los Angeles Times that the agency was pleased with the ruling, which could expedite the resolution of some 4,500 cases around the country. ``We feel that the administrative denaturalization process is less cumbersome than the existing judicial denaturalization process,'' Bill Strassberger said. The case stems from a change in U.S. citizenship policy in 1990, when a federal law transferred the right to grant citizenship to qualified immigrants from the court system to the INS. In 1996, after a study of one million new citizens turned up more than 6,000 who had allegedly lied or failed to reveal prior arrest records in their applications, the INS claimed the right to revoke citizenship by administrative fiat if it found ''credible and probative evidence'' indicating a case of either official mistake or applicant fraud. Lawyers representing a number of immigrants challenged the INS in a class action lawsuit, claiming that the new procedures violated applicants' constitutional rights not to testify against themselves and unfairly targeted people for innocent or minor mistakes. In 1998, a federal judge in Seattle issued an injunction stopping the INS from using administrative hearings to revoke citizenship -- a decision appealed by the Justice Department to the San Francisco-based 9th Circuit. In the majority opinion handed down on Friday, the appeals court noted that the 1990 federal law had effectively removed citizenship from the purview of the courts, noting that ''naturalization proceedings -- which no longer take place in court -- can no longer be reopened in court.'' Upholding the INS' right to go back and review earlier decisions, the court said it was following what it believed to be the intent of the 1990 law. ``There is nothing remarkable about recognizing an agency's power to reopen and reconsider its own decisions, especially those arguably obtained by fraud,'' the court said. In a sharply worded dissenting opinion, however, Judge Andrew Kleinfeld said there was no demonstrable principle which holds that ``what one can do, one can undo.'' ``A person can give a gift, but cannot take it back,'' Kleinfeld said, noting that Congress had not explicitly given the Attorney General the right to revoke the citizenship her office can grant. ``The attorney general not only grabbed the ball on denaturalizations, but ran out of bounds with it,'' Kleinfeld wrote. Last Updated: 06/05/99 15:41 EDT Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication and redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. http://legalnews.findlaw.com/news/ DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
