Catholic Social Services, Inc. v. Reno (CSS) is a Ninth Circuit case which upheld an Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) regulation which required illegal immigrants to obtain INS approval before leaving the United States even for a brief, casual, and innocent absence. (Read the opinion here.)
The immigrants initially filed a class action lawsuit in 1986, challenging an immigration regulation which required illegal immigrants to obtain INS approval before leaving the United States, even for a brief, casual, and innocent absence. The case went through several series of litigation, even reaching the U.S. Supreme Court, in Reno v. Catholic Social Services, where the court vacated the previous decisions because the plaintiffs’ claims were not ripe.
When the Ninth Circuit heard the case again in 1997, it found that the plaintiffs lacked standing under a new statute which limited litigants’ ability to sue on this issue. Therefore, the INS regulation requiring that aliens obtain pre-approval before leaving the United States remained in force. A few years later, the Ninth Circuit heard their case again in Catholic Social Services v. I.N.S., this time ruling in the plaintiffs’ favor. The favorable ruling was ultimately of little import, however, as Congress passed the LIFE Act in 2000, amending the statute in favor of the plaintiffs.
[Last updated in November of 2021 by the Wex Definitions Team]