Opinion ID: 691011
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Amnesty Provisions.

Text: 5 Amnesty [under IRCA] was to take place in two stages. During a twelve-month period beginning on a date ... designated by the Attorney General and later established by regulation as May 5, 1987 through May 4, 1988 (the application period), illegal aliens could apply to the INS for temporary resident status. 8 U.S.C. Sec. 1255a(a)(1) (1988). The second stage, to commence nineteen months after the receipt of temporary resident status, gave aliens one year, later extended to two, see Pub.L. No. 101-649, Sec. 703(a), 104 Stat. 4978, 5086 (1990), in which to apply for permanent resident status. 8 U.S.C. Sec. 1255a(b)(1)(A), 2(C) (1988 & Supp. II 1990). Aliens could tender their applications to the INS or to Qualified Designated Entities (QDEs), nongovernmental agencies enlisted to serve as buffers between aliens and the government. See 8 U.S.C. Sec. 1255a(c)(1) (1988). IRCA further required the INS, in conjunction with the QDEs, to broadly disseminate information respecting the benefits which aliens may receive under this section and the requirements to obtain such benefits. 8 U.S.C. Sec. 1255a(i) (1988). 6 IRCA conditioned adjustment to temporary resident status on the meeting of four broad eligibility requirements. Sections 1255a(a)(1)-(4) mandated the Attorney General to grant this adjustment of status where the applicant: (1) had filed a timely application; (2) had maintained continuous unlawful residence since 1982; (3) had maintained a continuous physical presence since November 6, 1986; and (4) was admissible to the United States as an immigrant. 8 U.S.C. Sec. 1255a(a)(1)-(4) (1988). 7 The current appeal centers on the fourth criterion: admissibility as an immigrant. To show that she was admissible ... as an immigrant, 8 U.S.C. Sec. 1255a(a)(4) (1988), an alien had to establish, inter alia, that she was not inadmissible under 8 U.S.C. Sec. 1182(a)(4) (Supp. II 1990) pursuant to which [a]ny alien who, in the opinion of the ... Attorney General at the time of application for admission or adjustment of status, is likely at any time to become a public charge is excludable. IRCA's Special Rule for Determination of Public Charge (the statutory special rule) limited the agency's broad discretion in this area, stating that an alien is not ineligible for adjustment of status under this section due to being inadmissible under section 1182(a)(4) of this title [relating to the public charge determination] if the alien demonstrates a history of employment in the United States evidencing self-support without receipt of public cash assistance. 8 U.S.C. Sec. 1255a(d)(2)(B)(iii) (Supp. II 1990). In a separate provision, IRCA authorized the Attorney General to waive in the case of individual aliens any of the excludability provisions of Sec. 1182(a), including the public charge provision, for humanitarian purposes, to assure family unity, or when it is otherwise in the public interest. 8 U.S.C. Sec. 1255a(d)(2)(B)(i). 8