uring the 1980s, while El Salvador and
Guatemala were torn by civil war, the Immigration and Naturalization Service
denied asylum to 97 percent of Salvadoran and 99 percent of Guatemalan
applicants. At the same time the INS routinely granted asylum status to
Nicaraguans, who were fleeing a regime opposed by the Reagan Administration. In 1985, lawyers representing Guatemalan and Salvadoran refugees filed a federal lawsuit against the administration and the INS. The lawsuit alleged the administration had used foreign policy considerations to discriminate against Guatemalan and Salvadoran asylum claims. After three years, American Baptist Churches vs. Thornburg was settled in favor of the plaintiffs. Guatemalans and Salvadorans were entitled to a new, unbiased hearing. They were also granted work permits and guarantees against detention and deportation.
However, the INS has been processing a large number of backlogged cases and many Guatemalans and Salvadorans under the ABC settlement will not have their cases heard for many years. In the meantime they remain in the United States in legal limbo, with no guarantees that they will ever be granted asylum. Many have children who were raised in the United States and who have no guarantees of receiving asylum either.
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