Orantes-Hernandez

ORDER GRANTING IN PART PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION FOR ATTORNEYS’ FEES AND COSTS UNDER THE EQUAL ACCESS TO JUSTICE ACT

I. PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Plaintiffs filed this action in 1982, challenging practices and procedures allegedly employed by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (“INS”) to detain, process and remove Salvadoran nationals who had entered the United States. Plaintiffs sued on their own behalf and on behalf of a class of “all citizens and nationals of El Salvador eligible to apply for political asylum ... who ... have been or will be taken into custody ... by agents of the [Department of Homeland Security].” Ora ntes-Hernandez v. Meese, 685 F.Supp. 1488, 1491 (C.D.Cal.1988), aff'd, 919 F.2d 549 (9th Cir.1990) (“Orantes II”). Judge David Kenyon certified the Orantes class on April 30,1982.

On April 29, 1988, Judge Kenyon entered a permanent injunction mandating that the INS use specific procedures when detaining, processing and removing Salvadoran immigrants. See Orantes II, 685 F.Supp. at 1511-13 . On July 2, 1991, he modified the injunction to add four conditions that applied solely to the Port Isabel Service Processing Center in Port Isabel, Texas (“Orantes…