HIGH COURT TO HEAR CASES ON DEPORTATION

The Supreme Court has agreed to clarify new federal laws that aim to speed
up the deportation of immigrants convicted of committing crimes in this
country.

The court said yesterday it will hear a pair of appeals by the government
and by three immigrants facing deportation, to decide how much judicial
review is allowed for aliens ordered deported after a criminal conviction.

At issue are two 1996 laws, the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty
Act and the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act.
They dramatically altered the government's treatment of immigrants who
commit crimes or face deportation for other reasons.

Previously, some illegal immigrants facing deportation for committing a
crime could seek a waiver from the attorney general. The new laws barred
such waivers for immigrants convicted of aggravated felonies.

The new laws said deportation orders must be reviewed in federal appeals
courts rather than in "habeas corpus" proceedings in federal trial courts.
The new laws said immigrants convicted of aggravated felonies and drug
crimes generally are not entitled to court review.

The cases granted review yesterday included a government appeal seeking to
deport a man from Haiti who pleaded guilty to a drug crime in Connecticut,
and a separate appeal by three natives of the Dominican Republic, Mexico
and Guyana who were ordered deported for drug crimes in New York state.

Immigration officials ordered all four deported and said the new law barred
them from seeking a waiver.

The Haitian man, Enrico St. Cyr, won rulings by a federal trial judge and
the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals allowing him to seek a waiver because
his crime occurred before the new law took effect. The other three
prospective deportees took similar arguments directly to the appeals court.

In each case, the 2nd Circuit court said that because the new law barred
appeals court review of such issues, the individual could file a habeas
corpus petition in federal trial court.

Denying all court review would "raise a serious constitutional question,"
the appeals court said in the St. Cyr case.

The government's appeal said the 2nd Circuit Court ruling in that case
"frustrates Congress' intent" to limit court review of criminal aliens'
deportation proceedings.

Lawyers for the three other aliens said they agreed with the appeals court
ruling so long as they could pursue their cases in federal trial court.