amnesty

In response to the ruling, a DHS spokesperson told the BBC the scheme had been "abused, exploited, and politicised as a de facto amnesty program", while indicating it would assess its legal options.

Eventually he fell for a young woman living there: Ciau, whose parents had brought her from Kini as a young girl, and who obtained legal status under an amnesty extended by President Reagan.

And Halimi said that a broad amnesty offer from the Taliban, extended to most of their enemies, would not apply to him.

But a UN report titled "No safe haven" that was released last month cast doubt on their assurances about a general amnesty.

Born in Guadalajara, Barrios Gracián came to Anaheim with her parents in the 1980s without papers, eventually legalizing through the 1986 amnesty.