Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 21, 1991 TAG: 9102210069
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: From The Baltimore Sun and The Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Dividing 7-2, the court issued its first significant ruling on the "amnesty" rights that Congress granted to illegal aliens five years ago in a law enacted to deal with the plight of a "shadow population" of millions living here illegally.
Lawyers for alien laborers said the new decision would give as many as 100,000 workers a greater chance to have their cases reopened in a new attempt to win "amnesty" and thus stay in the country.
The ruling does not guarantee the right to stay to any individual alien. Individuals still must win that right, one case at a time, but they now will have a more assured chance of proving their eligibility for amnesty under the 1986 law.
Under the one-time amnesty program set up by Congress, illegal-alien laborers could seek the right to stay here if they could prove they had done at least 90 days of farm work in this country in the 12 months before May 1, 1986.
An alien farm laborer granted the right to stay here not only avoids the risk of being deported or arrested, but also is free to go on working in this country - a right that the 1986 law took away from illegal aliens who do not qualify for the amnesty.
Those opportunities, the court said, are important enough to aliens that they cannot be denied without "constitutionally fair procedures in the application process."
In other action, the court:
Ruled, 7-2, that state laws that unconstitutionally interfere with interstate businesses also may violate a federal civil rights law.
Ruled unanimously that labor unions must cooperate with all reasonable requests from candidates for union office to distribute campaign literature.
by CNB