Victorino Villamarin Blancada v. James B. Turnage

FLETCHER, Circuit Judge:

Petitioner Blancada argues that the district court erred in denying his habeas petition based on the conclusion that the district director of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) acted within his discretion in denying Blancada’s request for a stay of deportation pending the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (BIA’s) determination of his motion to reopen deportation proceedings. We reverse.

I

Blancada, a native of the Philippines, entered the United States in February 1986 as a nonimmigrant visitor. In June 1987, the INS district director issued an order to show…