Perez-Funez

MEMORANDUM OPINION

I. INTRODUCTION

These consolidated cases come before the Court on plaintiffs’ class action challenge, primarily on due process grounds, to the way in which the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) implements its voluntary departure procedure concerning unaccompanied minor aliens. The principal allegation is that INS policy and practice coerces class members into unknowingly and involuntarily selecting voluntary departure, thereby waiving their rights to a deportation hearing or any other form of relief.

The nationwide class seeks the following relief: (1) a judgment declaring the INS’ practices violative of the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution; and (2) a permanent injunction prohibiting the INS from effectuating voluntary departure of class members without first providing certain procedural safeguards to ensure a valid waiver of rights.

II. THE PARTIES AND JURISDICTION

The class is defined as:

The class representatives are natives and citizens of El Salvador who, at the time of their arrest by the INS, were minors unaccompanied by either a parent or legal guardian.

Defendant INS is a federal agency with nationwide…