This very ancient newspaper article should be of interest to you:
Miami Herald, The (FL) - Wednesday, September 19, 1990
Author: DAVID HANCOCK Herald Staff Writer
Thousands of Nicaraguans who received political asylum in the past two years could have their approvals overturned as U.S. immigration policy shifts to reflect the major political changes in Eastern Europe and Latin America.
In a memo sent to immigration districts across the nation, Deputy Immigration Commissioner Ricardo Inzunza instructed the directors to review -- and possibly revoke -- all recent asylum approvals granted to applicants from Nicaragua, Panama, Hungary, Poland and other countries "where there have been significant changes in the nature of the government or policies leading to the persecution of citizens."
The review of already granted asylum cases is an unprecedented move by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. The agency has always had the right to review the cases of people granted asylum , but INS spokesman Duke Austin said this is the first time since asylum procedures were implemented in 1980 that the government has seriously considered revoking asylum after it was granted.
The reason?
Sweeping changes in Eastern Europe, the U.S. invasion of Panama last December and the February election defeat of the Sandinistas in Nicaragua have forced INS to reconsider those asylum cases, which are based on applicants proving that they would be politically persecuted if they returned to their country.
The modified procedure is the latest setback for the 150,000 Nicaraguan exiles in South Florida, whose reception from Washington has turned chilly in recent years.
Nationwide, more than 8,000 Nicaraguans granted asylum in the past two years could lose that status. The memo also is the latest of many setbacks for more than 40,000 Nicaraguans who are pursuing increasingly unsuccessful asylum claims.
"It's ridiculous," said attorney Lilliana Torreh- Bayouth. "INS is already understaffed and underfunded. It doesn't have the manpower to handle the cases it has. And now, as if they didn't have anything else to do, they're going to take the cases they've already handled and start over."
However, Joel Stewart, a recent president of the South Florida chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said he didn't think the review of asylum cases was "inappropriate."
" Asylum is based on a fear of persecution if they're returned. If the fear is removed, why shouldn't they return?" Stewart said.
Austin said the additional review by local INS district directors is not a prelude to mass deportations of Nicaraguans, as has been feared by Nicaraguan exile leaders who have besieged INS with telephone calls.
However, long-term prospects are discouraging for Nicaraguans denied asylum . Their annual work permits will expire, and if arrested, the Nicaraguans will pass directly into INS custody for deportation.
Currently, foreign nationals granted political asylum must wait a year before applying to receive their "green cards," which grant permanent legal residency. Each year, INS can only grant permanent residency to 5,000 people with asylum , so there is a two-year backlog of successful asylum applicants waiting for permanent residency.
In his memo, Inzunza told district directors to automatically approve permanent residency requests by Nicaraguans who were interviewed for legal residency before April 25, 1990 -- the date Violeta Chamorro succeeded Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega as president of Nicaragua.
The newest immigration announcement could be bad news for Hernaldo Roman, a Nicaraguan computer programmer who was granted political asylum in March 1988. However, he waited until this year to apply for a green card, and his legal residency interview is not until November. Roman said he had dropped efforts to gain legal residency in Canada after receiving political asylum here in 1988.
"It seems unfair," Roman said. "I'm definitely discouraged."
Edition: FINAL
Section: FRONT
Page: 1A
Index Terms: ALTERNATIVE REFUGEE NICARAGUA PANAMA
Record Number: 9003030057
Copyright (c) 1990 The Miami Herald
