``Before this law, aliens had endless opportunities to appeal,'' said Allen Kay, spokesman for Rep. Lamar Smith (R., Texas), who sponsored the laws. ``It was a ridiculous system that benefited and helped criminals. The provisions in this law streamline the system so that people who should be deported are.''
As Attorney General Janet Reno is interpreting the laws, immigration judges no longer have the power to grant certain waivers for deportation orders that were once bestowed on thousands of immigrants. And the Justice Department contends judges in federal district and appellate courts do not have the power to review deportation orders.
``If the Justice Department's arguments are successful, it would be the first time in the history of our nation that lawful residents could be removed from the country without any review from the courts for legal error,'' said Lee Gelernt, a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union's Immigrant Rights Project.
Gelernt is an attorney for Eleazar Morel, 25, a North Jersey resident who emigrated from the Dominican Republic eight years ago and was convicted of drug possession when he was 22. His deportation order is being used as a test case before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Philadelphia to determine whether the attorney general or an administrative agency has final say over what the law means.
No appeals court has ruled on this issue, and the case is pending.
Among the immigrants awaiting deportation - lawyers estimate the number at several thousand - is Charlie Jaramillo, 33, a West Chester contractor who left Colombia when he was 8 months old and has never been back. An immigration judge in July ordered him deported to Colombia on Aug. 25, an order now on appeal to the Bureau of Immigration Appeals.
