OCIJ Memo on NACARA MTR Deadline

September 4, 1998

Memorandum

To: All Immigration Judges
All Court Administrators
All Court Staff

From: The Office of the Chief Immigration Judge

Subject: September 11, 1998 Filing Date for Motions to Reopen under Section 203(c)of NACARA

OPPM 98-3 discusses the Immigration Court's procedures for handling motions to reopen under section 203(c) of NACARA, Motions to reopen filed under 203(c) of NACARA must be filed on or before September 11, 1998.

Immigration Courts must continue to accept motions to reopen filed under section 203(c) of NACARA up to the close of business on September 11, 1998. In order to ensure that aliens can file before this deadline, Immigration Courts will remain open until 5:30 PM local time on September 11, 1998, regardless of regular business hours. Therefore, the Immigration Court must close its offices for filing purposes at exactly 5:30 PM, and no filing past that time will be accepted. There will be no exceptions to this time limitation. OCIJ, however, will authorize overtime to permit Court Administrators, at their discretion, to select members of their staff to ensure that all these motions are processed as expeditiously as possible. It is anticipated that most of these filings will take place in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami, Arlington, and New York.

If you have any further questions on this issue, please contact my Legal Counsel, Michael Straus, at 703/305-1716.

Michael J. Creppy

Chief Immigration Judge