INS in Contempt on Salvadoran Order

A federal judge in Los Angeles Thursday ruled that the Immigration and Naturalization Service failed to comply with a 1988 nationwide injunction he issued on the treatment of Salvadoran refugees.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge David V. Kenyon stemmed from a contempt action filed last March by lawyers for Salvadorans who had crossed into the United States seeking political asylum.

The Salvadorans were detained in large numbers in south Texas when the INS changed its policies on how peopleseeking asylum would be treated.

In April, 1988, Kenyon issued a sweeping injunction that held that the INS had illegally discouraged Salvadorans from applying for asylum.

The judge ordered the INS to tell them that they were entitled to apply for political asylum, consult with a lawyer, have access to legal materials, pencils, pens, typewriters, writing paper and pay telephones. The INS has appealed the decision.

On Thursday, Kenyon said the plaintiffs had established “by clear and convincing evidence” that the INS had not complied with his order regarding access to telephones. He said INS conduct in regard to the rest of his order did not “rise to the level of contempt” but that he was concerned about “documented instances of non-compliance.”

Kenyon ordered that all INS and private security guards working at the Port Isabel detention center be given training in what his injunction requires.