Immigrants Can Challenge Refugee Status Change in District Court

Two Rwandan immigrants can sue in federal district court to challenge the termination of their refugee status, despite a federal statute that limits judicial review of removal orders, the Tenth Circuit said.

The district court’s determination that it lacked jurisdiction over Agnes Mukantagara and Ebenezer Shyaka’s suit was based on an overly broad reading of the Immigration and Nationality Act and its implementing regulations, the opinion by Judge Joel M. Carson said Tuesday.

The plaintiffs came to the US in 1994 after the Rwandan genocide. Mukantagara was given refugee status in 2005, and Shyaka received derivative status as her minor ...