Immigrant Assistance Project of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor v. Immigration & Naturalization Service

Plaintiffs-Appellees are illegal immigrants and organizations assisting such immigrants who seek to legalize their status under a legalization program in the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (“IRCA”), 8 U.S.C. § 1255 . The legalization program was established to benefit aliens who have unlawfully resided in the United States since 1982. Plaintiffs challenge policies and practices adopted by Defendant-Appellant Immigration and Naturalization Service (“INS”) to implement IRCA’s requirement that the aliens’ unlawful status must have been “known to the government” since 1982 to receive legalization under the statute. See 8 U.S.C. § 1255a(a)(2)(B).

The District Court agreed with plaintiffs and issued a preliminary injunction that ordered the INS to use a specific burden-shifting mechanism for meeting the “known to the government” requirement. ( This Court affirmed, but the Supreme Court vacated, on jurisdictional grounds. After plaintiffs filed a Second Amended Complaint, the District Court found jurisdiction, certified a class, and granted another preliminary injunction based on the first one. This Court remanded, again on jurisdictional grounds. The District Court…