Fraga By and Through Fraga v. Smith, Civ. No. 82-1148-BE.

• Decision Date: 19 April 1985
• Docket Number: Civ. No. 82-1148-BE.
• Citation: 607 F. Supp. 517
• Parties: Israel FRAGA and Patricia Fraga, By and Through their legal Guardian, and next Friend, Carmen FRAGA, Jose Fraga, and Dionisio Carrasco, By and Through his mother and next friend, Magdalena Carrasco, Maria Reyna and Joaquin Gutierrez, individually and on Behalf of all others similarly situated, Plaintiffs, v. William F. SMITH, Alan C. Nelson, and Robert Krueger, each in his official capacity as officers of the United States, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Oregon

607 F. Supp. 517

Israel FRAGA and Patricia Fraga, By and Through their legal Guardian, and next Friend, Carmen FRAGA, Jose Fraga, and Dionisio Carrasco, By and Through his mother and next friend, Magdalena Carrasco, Maria Reyna and Joaquin Gutierrez, individually and on Behalf of all others similarly situated, Plaintiffs, v. William F. SMITH, Alan C. Nelson, and Robert Krueger, each in his official capacity as officers of the United States, Defendants.

Civ. No. 82-1148-BE.

United States District Court, D. Oregon.

April 19, 1985.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

D. Michael Dale, Oregon Legal Services Corp., Ontario, Or., Ira R. Zarov, Oregon Legal Services Corp., Portland, Or., Richard Ginsburg, Ginsburg, Gomez & Neal, Hillsboro, Or., for plaintiffs.

Charles H. Turner, U.S. Atty., Craig J. Casey, Asst. U.S. Atty., Portland, Or., for defendants.

OPINION

BELLONI, District Judge:

This case is currently before me on cross-motions for summary judgment. Upon review of the record, I find that the plaintiff class should be decertified as to some issues, but that partial summary judgment in favor of plaintiffs is appropriate on certain other issues.

Background

Plaintiffs brought this class action seeking declaratory and injunctive relief for delays in processing N-600 applications for certificates of citizenship. Plaintiffs claim they are foreign-born children of United States citizens. If certain residence and familial relationship requirements are met, plaintiffs are legally citizens of this country. To obtain proof of their citizenship, plaintiffs must apply to the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service ("INS") for a certificate of citizenship on an N-600 application form. The plaintiff class consists of those persons whose N-600 applications have been pending for more than 90 days. The defendants are officers of the United States Department of Justice and the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service.

To understand the issues raised in this case, it is necessary to briefly review the procedure used by INS in evaluating N-600 applications. The parties agree that an N-600 applicant has the burden of establishing his entitlement to a certificate of citizenship by a preponderance of the evidence. The parties also agree on the basic procedure followed by INS in reviewing an N-600 application. When an N-600 application is filed in Portland, it is routed to the file room, and then on to an applications clerk in the Adjudications Section. The clerk checks to assure that the fee is paid and that all required documents are included with the application. This preliminary screening process takes approximately 20-30 minutes.

If the applications clerk determines that all documents are present, the application is filed for scheduling and examination. If further documentation is required, the applicant is requested to furnish those documents. If the applicant is requested to submit a document and does not do so, the case may be closed administratively for failure to prosecute. If the missing document may be found in another existing file, INS will attempt to obtain the file itself. In rare instances, INS may request an investigation into one or more elements of the applicant's eligibility. Delays of 6 months to a year are common when a file has been requested from another office of INS, and in some cases even longer delays are experienced.

Once the applications clerk determines that the application is complete, the next step in adjudicating the application is an examination by an INS officer. The examination takes between 45 minutes and an hour. The purpose of the examination is to question the applicant to assure that he is the person named in the application and that his oral testimony is consistent with the documentary evidence submitted.

If the application is ready for a final recommendation at the conclusion of the examination, the examiner recommends approval or denial. The application is then submitted to the District Director who will usually concur with the examiner's recommendation. If an N-600 application is formally denied, the applicant may appeal administratively to the Associate Commissioner for Examinations. If the administrative appeal is unsuccessful, an applicant may file an action in the United States District Court.

At Portland INS, the examiner will usually not deny the application; instead, if the examiner feels that the applicant has not met the burden of showing entitlement to the certificate, the examiner will request the applicant to submit additional proof. If the additional proof is not submitted, the application may then be administratively closed, without prejudice. Portland INS administratively closes cases when applicants fail to provide "primary" evidence of facts necessary to prove citizenship, without ever advising applicants that other "secondary" evidence is also admissible. (Primary evidence includes e.g. birth certificates and marriage certificates; secondary evidence includes baptismal records, school records, employment records, etc.). During the fiscal years 1978 through 1983, 87.3% (1594) of the applications for certificates of citizenship received in the Portland INS office were approved, 0.4% (7) were denied, and 12.3% (224) were closed administratively.

Plaintiffs contend INS has unreasonably delayed action on their applications. Plaintiffs also contend that the manner in which INS processes N-600 applications has denied plaintiffs adequate procedural safeguards. Plaintiffs claim that the procedures used by INS and the lengthy delays in issuing decisions on N-600 applications violate the requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. § 551 et seq. ("APA"), the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, 8 U.S.C. § 1101 et seq. ("INA"), and regulations issued under the INA, as well as the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment.

Plaintiffs contend that because they have not been granted certificates of citizenship, and thus are unable to prove their citizenship, they have been denied public benefits such as unemployment compensation and food stamps, and they have been denied opportunities to work. In addition, plaintiffs claim they have been denied many of the rights of U.S. citizenship, such as the right to vote, to sit on juries, and to petition for immigration benefits for their relatives. Plaintiffs have requested the following relief:

1. Within 30 days of receiving an N-600 application, INS should screen the application for completeness and notify the applicant either of any deficiencies in the application and steps needed to complete it, including acceptable sources of secondary evidence, or of a scheduled appointment for examination for the application (which need not be held within the 30-day period).

2. INS should grant, deny, or close 80% of all N-600 applications within 180 days of receipt of the applications. In cases which remain open more than 180 days after filing, INS should within the 180-day period, advise each applicant in writing of the grounds upon which the application cannot yet be approved, or of the steps needed to complete adjudication of the application, and of the applicant's right to request a final appealable decision based on the evidence currently before INS. Within 60 days of the applicant's request for a final decision, INS should issue an appealable decision in such cases.

3. Closure of a case should be regarded as an appealable, final decision. The decision to close a case administratively should be reached by the District Director in the same manner as a decision denying an application.

4. Whenever the examiner reaches a decision to recommend denial or closure of an application, the examiner should prepare a written proposed decision with the findings of fact based upon the evidence in the applicant's file, and conclusions of law. This recommendation and any adverse evidence should be shared with the applicant, and the applicant afforded an opportunity for rebuttal, prior to the District Director's final decision in the case.

Unreasonable Delay

The INA provides that upon presentation of adequate proof, an applicant "shall be furnished by the Attorney General with a certificate of citizenship ..." 8 U.S.C. § 1452 (emphasis added). This language implicitly requires INS to process N-600 applications with reasonable promptness. In addition, APA § 555(b) provides in relevant part:

"With due regard for the convenience and necessity of the parties or their representatives and within a reasonable time, each agency shall proceed to conclude a matter presented to it."

Similar statutory provisions have been held to require the Social Security Administration to provide hearings and Appeals Council reviews within a reasonable time. See Wright v. Califano, 587 F.2d 345 (7th Cir. 1978); White v. Mathews, 559 F.2d 852 (2nd Cir.1977), cert. denied 435 U.S. 908, 98 S.Ct. 1458, 55 L.Ed.2d 500; Caswell v. Califano, 583 F.2d 9 (1st Cir.1978). The INA and APA provisions cited above require INS to decide N-600 applications within a reasonable time.

Many members of the plaintiff class waited several years to obtain a final decision on their N-600 applications. However, the fact that there were delays in processing N-600 applications does not necessarily mean the delays were unreasonable. As the Seventh Circuit noted in Wright v. Califano, 587 F.2d at 353, the reasonableness of administrative delays must be judged in light of the resources that Congress has supplied to the agency for the exercise of its functions, as well as the impact of the delays on the applicants' interests. The passage of time alone is rarely enough to justify a court's intervention in the administrative process, especially since "administrative efficiency is not a subject particularly suited to judicial evaluation ..." Id.; F.T.C. v. J. Weingarten, Inc., 336 F.2d 687, 691-692 (5th Cir.1964).

The defendants maintain that delays in adjudicating...