Walter Mario Piccirillo v. Immigration & Naturalization Service

The Piccirillo family petition this court for review of the refusal by the Board of Immigration Appeals (the Board) to reconsider the dismissal of their appeal from a Special Inquiry Officer’s (S.I.O.’s) denial of their motion to reopen deportation proceedings affecting them. We reverse.

Petitioners are citizens of Uruguay who entered this country at Miami, Florida on May 28, 1968. They failed to depart within the time allowed them as visitors. Instead they settled in Idaho Falls, Idaho.

A deportation hearing duly held on February 19, 1969, at which the Piccirillos were present and represented by counsel, resulted in an order for their deportation to Uruguay. They took no appeal from the order.

Due to a private bill having been introduced in Congress to enable petitioners to remain here, deportation was stayed. But in February, 1972, action on the bill was deferred to permit the Piccirillos to apply for withholding of deportation under § 243(h) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. § 1253 (h).

Meanwhile on November 28, 1971, Piccirillo wrote a letter to the District Director of the Immigration and Naturalization Service at Helena, Montana, requesting the…