http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/knau/local-knau-931334.mp3
Phoenix, AZ – The three-judge panel will hear arguments by Gov. Jan Brewer that
a trial judge exceeded her authority in blocking the state from
enforcing key provisions of SB 1070. One of those judges is
Carlos Bea, a native of Spain who got to this country as a child
via Cuba. In a speech three years ago to immigration judges, Bea
detailed how while still just a resident alien attending Stanford
University in 1952, he left the country to play in the Olympics
for Cuba, then stayed in Europe to play there. When he sought to
return, the U.S. embassy in Madrid gave him a student visa,
something he did not realize at the time undermined his resident
alien status. Things went bad when, two years later he applied
for citizenship, stating his intent to remain in the United
States. Based on that, the Immigration and Naturalization Service
began deportation proceedings. Bea recalled how a hearing officer
ruled he had voluntarily abandoned his residency to avoid the
draft during the Korean War. And Bea said the hearing officer was
not persuaded by his proposal to reinstate his resident status
and draft him since, at age 21, he was still draft eligible. Bea
had to travel to Washington to plead his case to members of the
Board of Immigration Appeals. They eventually concluded that the
hearing officer abused his discretion by not using it to
reinstate Bea's resident status. Bea, in that 2007 speech, told
the immigration judges that it was -- quote -- only later, when I
started handling a few immigration cases, did I realize how
unusual was this appellate finding. The hearing before Bea, along
with judges John Noonan and Richard Paez, is set for next Monday
morning in San Francisco. For Arizona Public Radio this is Howard
Fischer.