Caught in a conflict between an immigration law and a regulation, a man who apparently rehabilitated himself after he was imprisoned decades ago on an arson conviction still must be removed from the country, a reluctant federal appellate court has ruled.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit said that Savario Perriello cannot use his pending petition for naturalization to block removal proceedings under the law as it now stands, even though it took the government more than 16 years after he was released from prison to start the proceedings.
