La Jornada
January 12, 2000
By Juan Balboa

A judge in the Second District [Federal] Court issued a ruling today, temporarily suspending the expulsion order against US citizen Kerry Appel, which was issued by the National Immigration Institute (INM). The judge immediately informed the Mexican immigration authorities of his decision.

A lawyer from the Fray Bartolome de las Casas Human Rights Center, Juan Lopez, confirmed the judge's decision and said that judge, Jacinoto Juárez had opened dossier 19/99, initiating a lawsuit that will clarify the legal basis of the IMN's deportation of [Appel].

Of the fifty foreigners detained at the San Andrés Larráizar military check point, only seventeen presented themselves at the INM. One, Kerry Andrew Appel, was deported; sixteen more were given departure orders; and the other thirty-three fled Mexico out of fear of the Mexican Migration Authorities.