Vuthisit Prapavat and Jongchit Prapavat v. Immigration and Naturalization Service

This case is before the court on a petition for rehearing which we granted on April 1, 1981. In granting the petition, we asked counsel to submit briefs addressing the applicability of INS v. Wang, 450 U.S. 139 , 101 S.Ct. 1027 , 67 L.Ed.2d 123 (1981) (per curiam), to the instant case. After considering those briefs, we have concluded that the decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals [“the Board”], which denied the Prapavats’ applications for suspension of deportation, should be reversed.

The facts giving rise to the Prapavats’ petition for review were set out in our previous opinion, Prapavat v. INS, 638 F.2d 87 (9th Cir. 1980), and need not be repeated here. We held that the Board had abused its discretion by concluding that the facts adduced by the Prapavats did not constitute extreme hardship, and remanded solely for determination of the other prerequisites on which 8 U.S.C. § 1254 (a)(1) conditions eligibility for suspension of deportation.

In Wang , however, the Supreme Court emphasized the broad discretion that the immigration authorities enjoy in interpreting “extreme hardship,” 101 S.Ct. at 1031 , and “the limited nature of our function” in reviewing their…