Jobless Requirement for Aliens Struck
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SAN FRANCISCO — The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held Friday that the Immigration and Naturalization Service has no right to require that aliens be jobless as a condition of bonds issued pending deportation proceedings.
The ruling was issued in a class-action suit filed by the National Center of Immigrants’ Rights and 12 nonprofit organizations providing free legal aid to aliens.
U.S. District Judge David V. Kenyon of Los Angeles granted summary judgment in favor of the plaintiffs and barred the INS from making no work a blanket condition of all bonds posted to ensure aliens’ appearance in deportation proceedings.
The 9th Circuit, upholding Kenyon, said legislative history and case law makes the question of an alien’s working while on bond a matter to be determined on an individual basis.
The purpose of a bond, the court said, is to ensure that the alien appears as promised. Any concern that an alien might be working illegally is incidental to the main purpose, the court said.
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