Here here the facts as set out in a NT Times story yesterday:
Mr. Zehr, 29, is from an Amish community in southern Ontario. He married in June 2001, and he and his wife, Ruth Ann, moved to rural Clarion County, Pa., to live near her family. In February 2002, the couple filed papers with the federal government to obtain permanent resident status for Mr. Zehr. But their applications were denied because both had refused to submit photographs.A district court judge in Pittsburgh ruled Wednesday that Zehr could be deported any time. Yesterday he appealed to the USCA for the 3rd Circuit. Here is an NPR story.Last fall, the Department of Homeland Security began deportation proceedings against Mr. Zehr. Despite those proceedings, he returned to Canada last December to visit his father, who had suffered a heart attack. Mr. Zehr was told by immigration officials that he could not return to the United States because he did not have photo identification. But on April 1, he was granted temporary "parole" into the country. That status has expired.
In the lawsuit, Mr. Zehr's lawyers argues that the government was violating his First Amendment right to freedom of religion by requiring him to submit a photograph. But Ms. Buchanan asserted that Mr. Zehr does not have First Amendment rights because he was never officially "admitted" into the country, only paroled, which is a more provisional status.
According to a story today in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, "A federal appeals court on Thursday refused a request to keep a Canadian Amish man in the United States while he challenges a law requiring his photo be taken." However, I could not access the story itself without providing the following fields in addition to my name and email address, so I elected to not cover stories in the Atlanta Journal Constitution:
• Password Hint is required.[More] Here is a Washington Post/AP report on the 3rd Circuit refusal Thursday to hear an emeregency appeal. [link via How Appealing] Posted by Marcia Oddi at April 23, 2004 08:17 AM
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