"Adjustees": in status or out of status?

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gc131

Registered Users (C)
According to several news reports, some people showing up for special registration are being arrested and deported even though they have pending green card applications with EAD cards and Advance Parole. Legally, they are regarded as being out of status. How can one be out of status and yet have authorization to work in the US? Isn't the granting of EAD and AP proof that a person is here legally? No one, not even lawyers seem to know the answer to this simple question. Also, if one last entered the US on AP as a "parolee", then is one exempt from special registration, since special registration specifically states that it applies only to those who entered the US on a temporary visa.
Any immigration lawyers out there who can shed some light on this?
 
My understanding is the people who were arrested were those who had a gap in their immigration status, for example they filed I-485 AFTER their non-immigrant visa had expired, under 245(i).
In cases like this, they were referred to investigations and then released if the INS didn't find any other problems.

Please read the article in AILA.org to learn on how this special registration was handled in various INS offices. Most of the arrests took place during Group I - at that time, I believe, the guidelines were not fully established and understood; i.e. a lot of confussions even among the INS officers themselves.
Group II was pretty smooth; no mass arrests, etc.

According to my lawyer, people with I-485 pending is considered in-status, but you are NOT a Legal Permanent Resident (LPR) yet. You are still subject to removal if the INS rejects your I-485.

The special registration does NOT say "on a temporary visa". It says: "If you were inspected by the INS and last admitted to the U.S. as a nonimmigrant". Read again on:
http://www.ins.gov/graphics/lawenfor/specialreg/index.htm

If the INS interpretation for "nonimmigrant" is anyone other than US Citizen or Green Card holder (LPR), then yes - Parolees have to register as well.
 
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