The Nation - News from April 7, 1988

The Justice Department retreated from a stand that would have barred aliens facing deportation from having their asylum requests heard before an immigration judge. Rules proposed Aug. 28 would have required that all claims for asylum and withholding of deportation be heard by asylum officers of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Civil liberties groups say INS is unsympathetic to asylum-seekers, a charge the agency denies. Under the latest proposal, immigration judges--who work for the Justice Department, not INS--would continue to conduct adversary proceedings for asylum-seekers facing exclusion from the United States or deportation.