AILF Serving as Co-counsel on Honduran TPS Class Action

A case entitled Sauceda v. Novak was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, on November 15, 1999. Lead counsel in the case is Charles Wheeler of Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. American Immigration Law Foundation is co-counsel, along with the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Immigration Law Center.

Sauceda is a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of all nationals of Honduras who timely submitted a prima facie application for temporary protected status with the Vermont Service Center and who have not received the temporary benefits, i.e., employment authorization, required by law.

In January, Congress extended a humanitarian gesture to Hondurans living in the United States whose country was just devastated by Hurricane Mitch. Hondurans were offered the chance to apply for a brief period of TPS, which granted them work permits for this period. However, the lawsuit claims, INS officials in Vermont have been illegally delaying the issuance of these work permits by demanding documentation from Honduran immigrants that is not legally required to obtain this temporary protected status. The program for Hondurans is set to expire on July 5, 2000.