Frequently Asked Questions | Articles

Frequently Asked Questions

10/30/2002

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Inquiring Minds Want To Know — EOIR, INS, BIA, LPR, etc., etc.

	Where can I learn more about the immigration process?
	What is the INS and the EOIR?
	How can the EOIR be abolished?
	How can the BIA be abolished?
	Who are the members of the EOIR's "Board of Immigration Appeals" (BIA)?
	Who pay for the aliens' BIA appeal transcripts?
	Where are all the EOIR immigration judges hiding?
	What do the immigration judges do?
	How do aliens avoid being deported in Immigration Court?
	Who else could do the job if the EOIR is abolished?
	What if someone gets deported that wasn't supposed to be deported?
	What is an immigration bond?
	Why is detention, detention, detention so important?
	Who pays for deported aliens to be flown back to their native countries?
	How is the INS organized?
	What does I-N-S really mean?
	Just how badly managed is the INS?
	What is an alien?
	What's the difference between legal and illegal aliens?
	What's a green card?
	What's an LPR?
	Can legal or illegal aliens be deported?
	What's the difference between an immigrant and a non-immigrant?
	Would a U.S. citizen ID card help fight illegal immigration?
	What is an OTM?
	What is amnesty?
	Who were the beneficiaries of the 1986 amnesty?
	The federal government has stopped giving amnesty to illegal aliens, right?
	Who is smuggling drugs and aliens into this country?
	What have our neighbors to the south from Michoacan, Mexico, brought to the U.S.?
	Got any good slogans for reforming the Immigration and Nationality Act?
	Just what is this thing called "temporary protected status" (TPS) and is it really temporary?
	Who has temporary protected status?
	Gee, if aliens from Somalia and Sudan get TPS, how do we know if they're not terrorists or their supporters?

Where can I learn more about the immigration process and the INS?

The INS' frequently asked questions page.

The INS' glossary of terms.

The INS' secret language of acronyms.

What is the INS and the EOIR?

The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) and the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) are separate agencies within the Department of Justice (DOJ). Both are responsible for the removal of illegal aliens and criminal aliens residents from the United States. The INS has the responsibility of apprehending and bringing immigration charges against aliens. The EOIR consists of the nationwide United States Immigration Court system and its appellate component, the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) in Falls Church, Virginia. In Immigration Court proceedings, the INS plays the role of the prosecuting agency, while the Immigration Judges of the EOIR play the role of judge. Cases are appealed to the twenty-three member BIA, and then to the federal circuit courts of appeal. The process of seeing one illegal alien or criminal resident alien through Immigration Court hearings and the two-stage appeal process frequently lasts years, prolonging any final decision on deportation. As the EOIR bureaucracy busies itself with this process, the aliens (who were supposedly facing deportation) remain in the United States living their lives. Though the idea behind the hearing and appeal process was apparently for illegal aliens to be given "due process" before being deported, the end result is a system that only prolongs the stay of illegal aliens and criminal alien residents in the United States. This system is broken. It needs to be streamlined in order for the United States to be able to control its immigration.

How can the EOIR be abolished?

It's up to Congress. The Executive Office for Immigration Review, as an agency of the Department of Justice, was created through legislation. As long as Congress is ready and willing to break up the INS into little pieces, or parcel out its functions to other agencies, why not eliminate the EOIR in a two-for-one deal? How about it, lawmakers?

How could the BIA be abolished?

It's up to the Attorney General. The Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) was created as a creature of regulation. The Attorney General could modify the Code of Federal Regulations, 8 C.F.R. Section 3.1 to be exact, and eliminate the redundant appellate component of the EOIR. How about it, Mr. Ashcroft?

Who are the members of the EOIR's "Board of Immigration Appeals" (BIA)?

Meet the bureaucrats who hear all of the appeals from immigration courts around the country.
See if there's anyone you know.

Who pays for the aliens' transcriptions of the Immigration Court proceedings when they appeal cases to the Board of Immigration Appeals?

The American taxpayers. Unlike just about every appellate court in the country, the BIA gives lower court transcripts for free to all the aliens appealing, no matter how frivolous the appeal.

Where are all the EOIR immigration judges hiding?

These government lawyers are all over the country in "Immigration Courts," wearing black robes.
See if they're in your town.

What do the immigration judges do?

The EOIR's immigration judges are responsible for determining whether illegal aliens and criminal alien residents are removable from the United States. Immigration Court hearings are called "removal" proceedings under Section 240 of the Immigration and Nationality Act. But with so many ways available for aliens to avoid actually being removed, these "removal" proceedings really should be called "get to stay" proceedings. Getting aliens to stay in the United States winds up being the primary focus of this bureaucratic exercise.

After the INS apprehends the aliens, reviews their immigration status, and serves the alien with a "Notice to Appear" in removal proceedings, the Immigration Judge reviews the charges again to see if the alien is deportable. The charges are based on the alien committing criminal activity or violating the terms of legal immigration status. If the immigration judge finds that the INS has presented "clear and convincing evidence" that the alien is removable from the United States, the immigration judge will issue an order of removal. But that is just the beginning of a process where the alien wins just by being in it, because of the inherent delay, delay, delay of the system.

How do aliens avoid being deported in Immigration Court?

If the immigration judge finds that the INS has not met its burden of burden of proof by "clear and convincing evidence," then the case is terminated, and the alien is free to disappear back into the United States. But if the alien is found removable, the alien can apply from a laundry list of relief from removal contained in the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) in order to prevent being issued an order of deportation. That's why "removal" proceedings really should be called "get to stay" proceedings. Here's the proof. Here's the laundry list of legal ways that aliens can avoid being ordered deported by the EOIR's Immigration Court (note that any denial of these benefits can be "appealed" through the BIA and federal courts in order to postpone any actual departure from the United States):

Claim for United States citizenship.
Though immigration judges do not grant citizenship to aliens. But they can find that the INS has failed to prove "alienage" by "clear and convincing evidence," resulting in the alien not being "removable" from the United States.

Voluntary departure.
The alien leaves the country after a certain amount of time, paying travel expenses and avoiding an order of deportation. The alien is free to reapply to enter legally, or just go ahead and enter illegally again.
INA Section 240B

Adjustment of status under Section 245.
The alien applies for resident alien status (a "green card") during the very same Immigration Court proceedings that were supposed to deport the alien! The alien must have an approved immigrant visa petition from the INS with a visa number currently available in order to get this benefit. Immigration Judges often wait for the visa numbers to become current so that the aliens can apply for adjustment.
INA Section 245

Adjustment of status under Section 245(i).
This is a stealth amnesty program! If someone who is illegally in the United States without current status is NOT immediately deported, this alien is being given the benefit of an amnesty! Section 245(i) allows aliens who have no legal status in the United States to avoid being deported as long as they file a visa petition (through a spouse, parent, child, brother, sister) prior to a certain date. These aliens should have been put on a bus or a plane instead of being given the opportunity to file visa petitions. Unfortunately, Congress has been threatening to extend this benefit to more persons who don't deserve it, waiving the "unlawful presence" grounds of the immigration law. These aliens, by definition, have already shown that they are not willing to abide by the immigration laws of the United States. Section 245(i) beneficiaries have actually cut in line ahead of the thousands of visa beneficiaries who lawfully waited their turn outside of the country until a visa number becomes available. Instead, the 245(i) crowd violated our laws, and now can benefit from their misdeeds.
Help the Federation for American Immigration Reform stop the extension of the 245(i) program!
INA Section 245(i)

Political asylum.
The alien granted political asylum leaves Immigration Court as a "refugee" and can apply for a resident alien card in a year. The alien must prove past persecution (or a well-founded fear of future persecution) under one of the five statutorily protected grounds, "race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion." As you might have suspected, these categories are under constant expansion by liberal rulings of the BIA and the federal appellate courts. Any alien that says the magic words "political asylum" could win a life in the United States.
INA Section 208

Withholding of removal.
A stricter flavor of political asylum where the alien remains in the United States, but cannot apply for resident alien status. INA Section 208

Withholding or deferral of removal under Article 3 of the United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
The alien must show a "clear probability" of being tortured in the alien's native country.
INA Section 241(b)(3)

Cancellation of removal for non-permanent residents.
This benefit is another rolling amnesty program which rewards illegal aliens for disobeying the law! Aliens who have lived illegally in this country for ten years and have a U.S citizen or resident alien relative who is a spouse, parent or child can be rewarded with a "green card" in the Immigration Court proceedings that were originally initiated to deport the alien! Thanks to this perverse incentive of our immigration laws, illegal aliens can benefit from their contempt for our law. If the aliens manage to hide for ten years and procreate, they are home free to get a green card. Only in America.
INA Section 240A(b)(1)

Suspension of deportation.
This benefit was the first rolling amnesty in immigration law. If an illegal alien avoided deportation for seven years, the alien didn't even need to have a "qualifying relative" as in the "cancellation of removal" give-away. The alien could then claim "hardship" to himself if deported, regardless of any hardship to his relatives! Again, this give-away rewards those who have broken our immigration laws by living and working in the country illegally.
INA Section 244(a)

Registry.
This benefit is yet another stealth "amnesty" for aliens who didn't bother to apply for the 1986 amnesty give-aways. Aliens who have been in the United States since 1972 can get a "green card" through registry.
INA Section 249

Special suspension of deportation under the Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act of 1997.
The shameless give-away of NACARA provides special benefits to prior political asylum applicants (regardless of the merits of their asylum claims) who have been living in the United States from a laundry list of countries: Nicaragua, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, former Soviet Union, Russia, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Albania, former East Germany, former Yugoslavia, Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia, Croatia, Slovenia, Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Moldova, Kazakstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgystan.
Come on down!

Cancellation of removal for permanent residents.
This benefit allows criminal aliens who are permanent resident aliens to maintain their "green cards" in spite of their crimes. The alien must have been a permanent resident for five years and have legal status of some kind for seven years. Criminal aliens can only get this type of relief to excuse a deportation only once. Given this "one free shot" provision of the statute, the immigration judges of the EOIR are often tempted to grant this benefit routinely as a "second chance." But criminal aliens frequently are not put in deportation proceedings after their first crime though, so even though the INS may miss many chances to deport an alien, the aliens always get a "second chance" with the EOIR system.
INA Section 240A(a)

Section 212(c) waiver.
This benefit is the first incarnation of the resident alien "cancellation of removal" provisions. Section 212 (c) relief also allowed resident alien criminals to keep their "green cards" in spite of their crimes. Congress attempted to scale back this form of relief to deport many drug smugglers and violent felons, but their efforts were struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court on June 25, 2001. The case of INS v. St. Cyr gave green cards back to countless numbers of dangerous criminals, allowing them to continue preying on our society. The decision was a 5 to 4 vote.
Shame on you, Anthony Kennedy! You should know better!

Waivers for "crimes involving moral turpitude" including theft crimes, sex crimes and possession of less than 30 grams of marijuana.
INA Section 212(h)

Waivers for alien smuggling.
INA Sections 212(d)(11) and 241(a)(1)(E)(iii); and an exception under INA Section 241(a)(1)(E)(ii).

Waivers for immigration fraud.
INA Sections 212(i) and 241(a)(1)(H)

More waivers for document fraud, exchange visitors, health-related reasons, labor certification requirements, reentry after deportation, conditional resident status, and crimes given a state or federal pardon.
INA Section 211(b)
INA Section 211(c)
INA Section 212(d)(4)
INA Section 212(e)
INA Section 212(k)
INA Section 216(c)(4)
INA Section 241(a)(2)(A)(v)
8 C.F.R. 212.2

Who else could do all the work if the EOIR and the Immigration Court system is abolished?

I thought you would never ask! There are thousands of federal government employees around the country and at United States consulates abroad who already perform the same functions as the employees of the EOIR. They already do the same jobs in a fraction of the time, without the ridiculous bureaucratic delay of endless hearings and appeals, and at a fraction of the cost of EOIR's government lawyers in black robes. Here's who is already doing the EOIR's job or could do it better in a heartbeat:

INS District Adjudications Officers (examiners) – adjustment of status, derivative citizenship claims, inadmissibility waivers
INS Asylum Officer Corps – political asylum, withholding of removal, U.N. Convention Against Torture
INS Special Agents (investigators) – administrative removal, criminal alien apprehension
INS Deportation Officers – administrative removal, criminal alien removal
U.S. Border Patrol Agents – administrative removal, Section 235(b) determinations
INS Immigration Inspectors – expedited removal, Section 235(b) determinations
INS District Directors – waivers, registry, humanitarian parole
INS District Counsels – provide legal advice to all of the above (if needed) in determining whether aliens are removable
U.S. consular officers abroad – all immigrant and non-immigrant visa processing, political asylum, refugee petitions, United States citizenship determinations

Relief that should be abolished – all stealth amnesty provisions that reward law-breaking; including Section 245(i) adjustments, and non-permanent resident cancellation of removal under Section 240A(b).

But what about if someone gets deported that wasn't supposed to be deported?

The bottom line is that in reality, it's no big deal.
Deportation is not a criminal sentence for prison time or the death penalty. If the alien was "wrongfully" deported, all the alien would have to do is ask to come back in again! Any foreign national has the potential of showing up at a United States consulate in any country of the world, or showing up at a United States land border at any time to make an inquiry. If the alien claims to be a United States citizen, that claim could be heard. Our immigration inspectors and consular officers make decisions as to who should be admitted to the United States every day of the year. We already trust them to make these determinations. If aliens believe that a mistake was made, all the alien has to do is reapply for admission!
It's as simple as that.

What is an Immigration Bond?

INS District Directors throughout the country set the custody conditions for aliens detained for Immigration Court proceedings. But these decisions are immediately reviewed and second-guessed by the Immigration Judges throughout the country in Immigration Court. The Immigration Judges can turn around and release just about any alien where the INS sets a bond, except the most serious criminal aliens. The BIA then can review the rulings of their fellow EOIR employees (the Immigration Judges). After that, the federal circuit courts of appeal can review the decisions of the BIA, making a federal case out of the detention bond amount for every single alien detained by the INS. With this system in place, it is no wonder that the INS actually detains so few aliens, compared to the staggering amount of illegal aliens and criminal resident aliens in this country. So while the Immigration Court proceedings go on and on, with all the needless delay that the EOIR bureaucrats can muster, aliens released from INS custody continue their illegal and criminal presence in this country.

Why is detention, detention, detention so important?

If the United States is going to actually deport illegal aliens and criminal alien residents, the aliens need to be detained throughout the process. If the aliens are not kept in federal custody, there is no guarantee that the government will ever see them again. The deportation system as it is now is broken. It is a process bogged down in the unnecessarily bureaucratic hearing process of the EOIR.

Who pays for deported aliens to be flown back to their native countries?

The American taxpayers. The INS is its own travel agency, booking one-way trips for deported aliens (usually with an officer escort) all over the world.

How is the INS organized?

Very badly, but does it really matter? Just about everyone in Congress wants to burn it down to the ground…apparently the only question remaining is how close to the ground to do it, and whether to restructure it of abolish it entirely.

What does INS really mean?

I'm Not Sure

I'm Not Saying

I'm Not Staying (employee retention slogan)

I'm Not Supervised

I'm Never Satisfied

Just how badly managed is the INS?

Ask Michelle Malkin, syndicated columnist. Not convinced yet? Check this one out too.

What is an alien?

An alien is "any person not a citizen or national of the United States." This definition comes from the terms of Section 101(a)(3) of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (with amendments by Congress through 2001). Contrary to politically-correct belief, the word "alien" is not a cuss word. It is defined by United States statute. Aliens can be either legally or illegally in the U.S.

What's the difference between legal and illegal aliens?

Short answer: a piece of paper. Illegal aliens are foreign nationals who have entered the U.S. without any legal status. The most common ways are by either crossing a land or sea border without being inspected by an immigration officer, or simply by violating the terms of a legal entry document. Legal aliens are entitled to enter and remain in the U.S. as long as they maintain the terms of their legal status. Legal aliens who have entered the U.S. with various types or non-immigrant visas can become illegal by not obeying the terms of that visa.

What's a green card?

The "green card" is a Form I-551 card issued by the Immigration and Naturalization Service. This card identifies the alien as a "lawful permanent resident alien" in the United States who is entitled to live and work in the country.

What's an LPR?

An LPR is a lawful permanent resident alien. An LPR has a legal "green card" and is entitled to live and work in the United States, and to file petitions to bring more alien family members into the United States.
According to the INS, a "permanent resident alien" is an alien admitted to the United States as a lawful permanent resident. Permanent residents are also commonly referred to as immigrants; however, the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) broadly defines an immigrant as any alien in the United States, except one legally admitted under specific nonimmigrant categories (INA section 101(a)(15)). An illegal alien who entered the United States without inspection, for example, would be strictly defined as an immigrant under the INA but is not a permanent resident alien. Lawful permanent residents are legally accorded the privilege of residing permanently in the United States. They may be issued immigrant visas by the Department of State overseas or adjusted to permanent resident status by the Immigration and Naturalization Service in the United States.

Can legal or illegal aliens be deported?

Both potentially can be deported. One would think that illegal aliens that never had any status in the U.S. at all could be deported immediately, but that would be too easy. Unless illegal aliens agree to leave the U.S. voluntarily, they will be placed in the endless Immigration Court proceedings, and may even wind up with a "green card" before the process is over. Legal aliens are subject to deportation if they commit certain crimes classified as "deportable offenses" under the Immigration and Nationality Act. Fortunately, having a "green card" doesn't mean having a free pass for a foreign national to commit crimes in the U.S. Unlike our own citizen criminals, alien criminals are under the threat of deportation because of their actions. But as the system is set up, the United States does not take full advantage of the luxury of bring able to clean house of its foreign criminals. Once in deportation proceedings, many criminal aliens wind up keeping their LPR status, in spite of long records of criminal activity. Many criminal aliens actually pass through the state and federal criminal justice systems undetected as foreign nationals. Unless the INS places these criminal aliens in deportation proceedings, the criminal aliens just vanish back into American society after serving time for state or federal crimes.

What's the difference between an "immigrant" and a "non-immigrant?"

An "immigrant" is an alien who is in the United States with lawful permanent resident status. These aliens are entitled to live and work in the U.S. and to file petitions to bring in other alien family members into the U.S. under certain categories. Alien spouses, parents, siblings and children can be brought into the United States through immigrant visa petitions, creating an endless chain of family "chain migration." Aliens can also obtain immigrant status through petitions by their employers.
According to the INS, a "non-immigrant" is "an alien who seeks temporary entry to the United States for a specific purpose. The alien must have a permanent residence abroad (for most classes of admission) and qualify for the nonimmigrant classification sought. The nonimmigrant classifications include: foreign government officials, visitors for business and for pleasure, aliens in transit through the United States, treaty traders and investors, students, international representatives, temporary workers and trainees, representatives of foreign information media, exchange visitors, fiance(e)s of U.S. citizens, intra-company transferees, NATO officials, religious workers, and some others. Most non-immigrants can be accompanied or joined by spouses and unmarried minor (or dependent) children."

Would a national U.S. citizen identification card help to fight illegal immigration?

No way! All aliens in the U.S. already are required to carry a passport and visa, or their permanent resident alien card with them at all times. Aliens in the U.S. already have their own "national ID card," but the problem is that no one in law enforcement bothers to check them anyhow! Forcing United States citizens to have a new "citizen ID" is not necessary. Every state in the union already issues their own ID in the form of a driver's license. Until the INS or some other law enforcement agency starts checking aliens for proper documents systematically, there is no need for another form of ID for U.S. citizens.

What is an OTM?

The classification for aliens apprehended at the border who are "other than Mexican." In fact, there are aliens from many countries apprehended in remote locations of the U.S. land border. There are Iraqis, Hondurans, Mainland Chinese, Ukrainians, Guatemalans, Somalians, Cubans, Brazilians, Pakistanis, Indians and illegal aliens from many other "exotic" countries apprehended at our borders every night.

What is "amnesty?"

Sections 210 and 245 of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 gave away resident alien status to illegal aliens on a massive scale. The aliens were obliged to "prove" that they were in the United States illegally prior to a certain date, or that they had performed only ninety-days of field work during a certain period … and presto! . . . instant green card! Needless to say that the "proof" required for these applications was an open invitation for fraud. As we know now, the 1986 amnesty programs did nothing to solve the problems of illegal immigration. It was a disaster of enormous proportions, rewarding aliens who had already served notice on our country that they were unwilling to abide by our immigration laws.

Who were the beneficiaries of the 1986 amnesty?

According to the Center for Immigration Studies, "several hundred thousand amnesty applicants came from a dozen zip codes concentrated in a five mile radius of city hall in Los Angeles, California." This data was part of a prolific report, "Immigration and California Communities, C.I.S. Backgrounder, February 1999 by William A.V. Clark. Southern California has never been the same since. Just ask Glenn Spencer from American Patrol.

The federal government has stopped giving amnesty to illegal aliens, right?

Unfortunately, the give-aways continue. Keep in mind that every alien that is not deported immediately has been granted a de facto amnesty of their own, due to our government's inability to enforce our immigration laws. Here are the immigration programs now in effect now that are stealth amnesty benefits for aliens:

Registry.
This benefit is yet another stealth "amnesty" for aliens who didn't bother to apply for the 1986 amnesty give-aways. Aliens who have been in the United States since 1972 can get a green card through registry.
INA Section 249

Adjustment of status under Section 245(i).
This is a stealth amnesty program! If someone who is illegally in the United States without current status is NOT immediately deported, this alien is being given the benefit of an amnesty! Section 245(i) allows aliens who have no legal status in the United States to avoid being deported as long as they file a visa petition (through a spouse, parent, child, brother, sister) prior to a certain date. These aliens should have been put on a bus or a plane instead of being given the opportunity to file visa petitions. Unfortunately, Congress has been threatening to extend this benefit to more persons who don't deserve it, waiving the "unlawful presence" grounds of the immigration law. These aliens, by definition, have already shown that they are not willing to abide by the immigration laws of the United States. Section 245(i) beneficiaries have actually cut in line ahead of the thousands of visa beneficiaries who lawfully waited their turn outside of the country until a visa number becomes available. Instead, the 245(i) crowd violated our laws, and now can benefit from their misdeeds.
Help the Federation for American Immigration Reform stop the extension of the 245(i) program!

Cancellation of removal for non-permanent residents.
This benefit is another rolling amnesty program which rewards illegal aliens for disobeying the law! Aliens who have lived illegally in this country for ten years and have a U.S citizen or resident alien relative who is a spouse, parent or child can be rewarded with a "green card" in the Immigration Court proceedings that were originally initiated to deport the alien! Thanks to this perverse incentive of our immigration laws, illegal aliens can benefit from their contempt for our law. If the aliens manage to hide for ten years and procreate, they are home free to get a green card. Only in America.
INA Section 240A(b)(1)

Who is smuggling drugs and aliens into this country?

An army of Mexican nationals, who are legal and illegal aliens, are ready, willing and able to smuggle drugs and aliens into our country at any time. And they do. It's highly probable that a large percentage of these smugglers, not to mention our other "resident" criminal aliens, are permanent resident aliens who were the beneficiaries of the 1986 "amnesty" give-away programs. Any evidence about a smuggling and "amnesty" connection, though largely anecdotal, is probably available somewhere within the bureaucratic morass of the INS. Who knows just how many of our current criminal aliens and their families came to this country through the failed "Amnesty" program of 1986.

What have our neighbors to the south especially from Michoacan, Mexico, brought to the United States — everywhere from Fresno, California, to Des Moines, Iowa?

Methamphetamine. Learn about the chilling reality of the Mexican methamphetamine trade in the series "A Madness Called Meth" by the McClatchy Company's California newspapers.

Got any good slogans for reforming the Immigration and Nationality Act?

When in doubt, kick them out!

Got no papers . . . get in the truck!

It's time for them to go!

Just what is this thing called "temporary protected status" (TPS) and is it really temporary?

According to the INS, Temporary Protected Status (TPS) establishes a legislative basis for allowing a group of persons temporary refuge in the United States. Under a provision of the Immigration Act of 1990, the Attorney General may designate nationals of a foreign state to be eligible for TPS with a finding that conditions in that country pose a danger to personal safety due to ongoing armed conflict or an environmental disaster. Grants of TPS are initially made for periods of 6 to 18 months and may be extended depending on the situation. Removal proceedings are suspended against aliens while they are in Temporary Protected Status." As you might have suspected, TPS is just one more delay in the whole EOIR/INS bureaucracy which allows aliens to remain in the country longer. There is also no guarantee that the INS will ever see any of the aliens who have been granted TPS again, or that they will voluntarily surrender themselves for the deportation process when the "temporary" period is over.

Who has Temporary Protected Status?

According to the INS, "the countries (or parts thereof) which are currently designated under the TPS program are Angola, Burundi, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Sierra Leone, Montserrat, Somalia & Sudan."

Gee, if aliens from Somalia and Sudan get TPS, how do we know if they're not terrorists or their supporters?

That's a good question, since they're both terrorist havens!
According to the U.S. Department of State, "Iran, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Cuba, North Korea, and Sudan continue to be the seven governments that the U.S. Secretary of State has designated as state sponsors of international terrorism. Iran remained the most active state sponsor of terrorism in 2000."
According to the Washington Post, ("Somalia Draws Anti-Terrorist Focus," by David B. Ottaway and Thomas E. Ricks, November 4, 2001) "An interagency working group involving intelligence analysts from the State Department, Pentagon, CIA and National Security Council has been meeting for the past three weeks to discuss where and how al Qaeda operates in the East African country, according to several administration sources. Somalia has been a center of al Qaeda activity since 1993, when bin Laden sent several top lieutenants to provide assistance to Mohamed Farah Aideed, a local warlord. Aideed's forces killed 18 U.S. Army troops serving in a U.N. peacekeeping force in a firefight in October of that year. Television images of an American body being dragged through the streets of the capital, Mogadishu, shocked the Clinton administration and precipitated its decision to withdraw all U.S. forces from the country."

November 05, 2002

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