Agency seeks delay in releasing inmates

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Tuesday, April 25, 2000 | 10:04 a.m.

The Immigration and Naturalization Service is seeking a stay of court proceedings that would release 98 inmates the agency has been holding in Clark County jails.

The federal public defender's office is seeking the release of the 98 inmates following a ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals April 10.

That ruling says immigration officials must free hundreds of deportable aliens whose native countries have refused to take them back. The decision affects inmates in nine Western states, including Nevada.

The inmates all have criminal records, but have completed the prison terms they received for the crimes they committed.

An INS motion filed Monday indicates the agency will be asking the 9th Circuit to vacate its ruling and grant an expedited hearing on the releases.

The detainees being held here include 39 from Vietnam, 22 from Cuba, 19 from Cambodia, 17 from Laos and one from the Ukraine.