Date Created:
Place Created: California
Year Created: 1991
Historical Theme:
Description: American Baptist Churches v. Thornburgh (760 F. Supp. 796, N.D. Cal. 1991) was a landmark class-action lawsuit filed in 1985 by a coalition of religious refugee-assistance organizations and Salvadoran and Guatemalan asylum seekers against the U.S. government. The plaintiffs alleged that the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) systematically discriminated against Central American asylum applicants in violation of the Refugee Act of 1980 and the Fifth Amendment by denying claims without individualized review and disproportionately targeting them for deportation. The case resulted in the 1990 “ABC Settlement Agreement,” which granted eligible Salvadorans and Guatemalans who entered the U.S. by specified dates new, de novo asylum interviews, protection from deportation while their cases were pending, and authorization to work. The settlement significantly influenced asylum procedures by establishing key due process protections and was approved by the U.S. District Court as fair and reasonable.
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California