NATION : Ruling Bars Deportation of Writer
An immigration appeals panel ruled today that leftist writer Margaret Randall is an American citizen and therefore cannot be deported, a decision that her lawyer says “rebukes” the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
In a 3-2 decision, the Board of Immigration Appeals determined that the poet and author was forced by dire economic straits in 1967 to take out Mexican citizenship and never renounced her U.S. citizenship freely.
Attorneys for Randall, an outspoken critic of U.S. policy who lived 14 years in Cuba and Nicaragua, said the INS was trying to punish her for her pro-communist views.
“I think the decision affirms that U.S. citizenship is a constitutional right and that one cannot lose one’s citizenship because the government doesn’t like what you say in your criticism of its policies,” said attorney David Cole, who represented Randall.
Randall has been living in Albuquerque, N.M., near her aging parents, and taking a variety of teaching jobs.
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