Joe Borden v. Edwin Meese, Alan Nelson and Louis M. Richard

TJOFLAT, Circuit Judge:

The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) appeals from the district court’s grant of habeas corpus relief pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1105a(b) (1982), see Borden v. Meese, 622 F.Supp. 1133 (N.D.Ga., 1985). The district court ruled that the INS abandoned its administrative appeal from an immigration judge’s grant of Borden’s application for asylum. Finding that the Board of Immigration Appeals’ conclusion that the INS had not abandoned its appeal was not unreasonable, we reverse.

I

Joe Borden arrived in the United States illegally as part of the 1980 Mariel boatlift and…