Salvadoran Sent Home in Protest Wins a Hearing

A refugee who was mistakenly shipped back to El Salvador, even though he had notified U.S. immigration authorities that he feared for his life and wanted to seek political asylum, has the right to have his case heard, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.

Santana Aviles-Torres, 29, managed to sneak back into the United States after he and another Salvadoran were abruptly sent home from the El Centro Detention Facility of the Immigration and Naturalization Service in September, 1982.

His companion, Jose Villalta-Hernandez, was brought back to this country at U.S. government expense after a lawsuit was filed on behalf of the two men by a refugee rights group. Immigration officials initially contended that no timely appeal notice had been filed, but finally located the papers.

Summarily Deported

Both men have been free on bail in Southern California while the suit and their appeals for hearings were pending. The case of Villalta-Hernandez has not yet reached the federal appellate level.

After the two were summarily deported, Aviles-Torres told the Board of Immigration Appeals, upon his return here, that he had been questioned by Salvadoran security forces. He also learned that many of his friends had been murdered, or had simply disappeared, and his photograph appeared in a Salvadoran newspaper that called him a “guerrilla.”

The board, however, affirmed the original deportation ruling by an immigration judge and denied his motion for a reopening of his petition for asylum.

In concluding that Aviles-Torres had made a prima facie showing of the likelihood of persecution in El Salvador, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said Tuesday that the board had abused its discretion and that the refugee should receive “thoughtful consideration” of his case.

The three-judge panel ordered the board to give him that, or to hand the case back to the immigration judge for further proceedings.

Attorney Peter Schey of the National Center for Immigration Rights, Inc., in Los Angeles, said the damage suit against the INS is scheduled to go to trial in San Diego federal court July 3, but attempts are under way to settle the matter before then.

Both men have been subsisting on menial, part-time jobs, Schey said, because the INS has not issued work authorizations.

The attorney said Aviles-Torres “has been waiting very eagerly for this day. He has been very concerned about the possibility of being deported back to El Salvador, where he feels his life would be in danger.”