Guanlao asks fed court to maintain status quo pending appeal

Amalia Abo Guanlao, a Filipino mother of two minor U.S. children, is opposing the U.S. government’s request for the federal court to dissolve its 2016 order staying an immigration judge’s ruling for her removal from the U.S.

Guanlao, through counsel Rosemond B. Santos, said she has filed a notice of appeal with the U.S. District Court for the NMI last Tuesday, July 3.

In Guanlao’s opposition to dissolve filed yesterday in court, Santos said Guanlao is appealing to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit from the District Court’s ruling that dismissed her petition for a writ of habeas corpus.

The petition seeks to appeal the immigration judge’s removal order.

Santos said based on the notice of appeal, Guanlao requests the court to exercise its broad discretion to stay the proceedings.

Santos asked the court to allow for the resolution of appellate proceedings, which will simplify issues or questions of law in this matter and/or will promote judicial efficiency and avoid inequity, waste, and hardship.

Santos said in connection with the notice of appeal, she will be filing contemporaneously a notice of motion and motion of Guanlao for stay pending appeal.

The lawyer requested the court to exercise its broad discretion by staying the proceedings and maintaining the status quo during the pendency of the appeal process.

U.S. District Court for the NMI designated Judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood dismissed last June 19 Guanlao’s petition.

On June 23, 2016, U.S. District Court for the NMI Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona issued a stay of Guanlao’s removal from the U.S.

Following Tydingco-Gatewood’s dismissal order, the U.S. government, through Department of Justice Office of Immigration litigation trial attorney Adrienne Zack, moved the District Court to formally lift the stay of removal because this case has been resolved.

According to court records, on Sept. 10, 2013, an immigration judge found that Guanlao was removable as an alien present without a valid immigrant visa or entry document and ordered her removed to the Philippines.

Guanlao appealed the judge’s decision pro se or without a lawyer to the Board of Appeals. She lost her case before the immigration court. In June 2016, she filed her petition for a writ of habeas corpus, seeking determination of “the legality of her continued detention and intended removal” and “a stay of her removal during the pendency of this case.”

Guanlao, who has a condition requiring medication just like one of her two children, has been residing on Saipan for over 24 years now. Her husband has been working on the island since 1989. Their two minor children were born on the island.