Papers Filed to Expand Help for Salvadorans
Immigrant rights advocates filed court papers this week to include the large Los Angeles Salvadoran community in a recent court decision requiring the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service to waive fees for impoverished Salvadoran refugees applying for temporary haven in the United States.
Federal District Court Judge David F. Levi issued a preliminary injunction Monday requiring the San Francisco District of the INS to grant waivers to applicants who fall below the federal poverty guidelines--about $6,600 a year for an individual.
Levi’s order also requires the INS to reexamine past waiver denials and to stop considering the cost of supporting the temporary haven program as a factor in denying fee waivers. Levi’s decision was in response to a class-action lawsuit filed last month on behalf Salvadoran refugees who are eligible to apply for a federal program known as Temporary Protected Status.
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