Ruiz v. Mukasey

• Decision Date: 12 January 2009
• Docket Number: Docket No. 07-5727-ag.
• Citation: 552 F.3d 269
• Parties: Jeanette RUIZ and Benicio Ruiz, Petitioners, v. Michael B. MUKASEY, Attorney General of the United States, and Michael Chertoff, Secretary of United States Department of Homeland Security, Respondents.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit

552 F.3d 269

Jeanette RUIZ and Benicio Ruiz, Petitioners, v. Michael B. MUKASEY, Attorney General of the United States, and Michael Chertoff, Secretary of United States Department of Homeland Security, Respondents.

Docket No. 07-5727-ag.

United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit.

Submitted: June 3, 2008.

Decided: January 12, 2009.

Kevin E. Dehghani, Esq., New Haven, CT, for Petitioners.

Gregory G. Katsas, Assistant Attorney General; Cindy S. Ferrier, Senior Litigation Counsel; Michelle G. Latour, Assistant Director; Nairi M. Simonian, Trial Attorney, Office of Immigration Litigation, United States Department of Justice, Washington, D.C., for Respondents.

Before: McLAUGHLIN, LIVINGSTON, Circuit Judges, and GERSHON, District Judge.^*

LIVINGSTON, Circuit Judge:

Respondents move to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction the petition filed by Jeanette and Benicio Ruiz ("Petitioners") for review of a November 30, 2007, decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals ("BIA") dismissing Petitioners' appeal from the January 3, 2007, decision of District Director Christina Poulos denying the I-130 petition filed by Benicio Ruiz, a citizen of the United States, for classification of Jeanette Ruiz as his spouse pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1154(a). As we have previously concluded that we do not have jurisdiction to review the Ruizes' petition, we must consider whether transfer to an appropriate district court pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1631 is permissible and would better serve the interest of justice than dismissal. Because we determine that a district court does possess jurisdiction to entertain a petition for review of the denial of an I-130 petition and that the interest of justice is best served by transfer, we deny the motion and transfer the petition for review to the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut.

BACKGROUND

In February 2001, Benicio Ruiz, a citizen of the United States and a resident of Connecticut, filed a Form I-130 "Petition for Alien Relative" on behalf of his wife, Jeanette Ruiz, an alien who is also a resident of Connecticut, seeking to have her classified as the spouse of a United States citizen. See 8 U.S.C. § 1154(a)(1)(A)(i) ("[A]ny citizen of the United States claiming that an alien is entitled to ... immediate relative status ... may file a petition with the Attorney General for such classification."); 8 U.S.C. § 1151(b)(2)(A)(i) (including "spouses" within the broad category of "immediate relatives"). Simultaneously, Jeanette Ruiz filed a Form I-485 "Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status," seeking to adjust her status to lawful permanent resident. See 8 U.S.C. 1255(a) ("The status of an alien who was inspected and admitted ... into the United States ... may be adjusted by the Attorney General, in his discretion ..., to that of an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence if ... the alien makes an application for such adjustment....").

In September 2006, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services ("USCIS") denied Jeanette's I-485 application. The adjudicating officer determined that Jeanette had demonstrated a lack of credibility by presenting conflicting accounts of her manner of entry into the United States and had been involved with Benicio Ruiz in a marriage fraud scheme. In support of the second conclusion, the adjudicating officer noted that Gabriel Pardo, a United States citizen, had previously filed an I-130 petition on Jeanette's behalf, that Jeanette had been unable to present evidence demonstrating that her marriage to Pardo was bona fide, that a subsequent investigation had revealed evidence that she was in fact the common law wife of Benicio Ruiz, and that she had confessed to having married Pardo for the sole purpose of obtaining entry to the United States. Drawing upon these conclusions, he exercised the discretion delegated to him by the Attorney General and refused to grant Jeanette lawful permanent resident status.

Also in September 2006, USCIS notified Benicio that, as a result of Jeanette's sham marriage to Pardo, it intended to deny Benicio's I-130 petition. See 8 U.S.C. § 1154(c) (barring approval of petition for immediate relative status submitted by alien who "has previously been accorded, or has sought to be accorded, an immediate relative or preference status as the spouse of a citizen of the United States ... by reason of a marriage determined by the Attorney General to have been entered into for the purpose of evading the immigration laws"). In January 2007, the District Director did in fact deny Benicio's I-130 petition on behalf of Jeanette, again citing her sham marriage to Pardo as the reason behind the denial.

Petitioners appealed only the District Director's denial of Benicio's I-130 petition, and not USCIS's denial of Jeanette's I-485 application, to the BIA, arguing that it was a denial of due process for the District Director to reject the petition without allowing them to view or rebut the evidence upon which she relied, that Jeanette's marriage to Pardo was bona fide, and that the petitioners never engaged in a scheme to obtain entry into the United States. The BIA dismissed Petitioners' appeal in November 2007, finding that the District Director's decision applied the correct legal standard, was supported by substantial evidence in the administrative record, and involved no deprivation of due process.

Petitioners filed the present petition in this Court for review of the BIA's decision to deny the I-130 petition in December 2007. Respondents moved to dismiss the petition for lack of jurisdiction, arguing that 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(1) grants this Court jurisdiction to review only "final order[s] of removal" and that the denial of an I-130 petition does not constitute a final order of removal. In an order dated June 3, 2008, we agreed with Respondents that we lack jurisdiction over this case, but directed the parties to provide supplemental briefs addressing the issue of whether jurisdiction properly lies in an appropriate district court and, if so, whether this matter should be transferred to such a district court pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1631. The parties agreed that a district court could properly assert jurisdiction over this matter and that this Court may choose to transfer the matter. As a result, we consider here only whether, in accordance with the position of both parties, we should transfer the case rather than dismiss it.

DISCUSSION

Our prior determination that we lack jurisdiction over this case does not obligate us to grant the Government's motion to dismiss the petition. Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1631, we may be required to transfer the matter to another court which may properly exercise jurisdiction over it. That section states:

Whenever ... an appeal, including a petition for review of administrative action, is ... filed with ... a court and that court finds that there is a want of jurisdiction, the court shall, if it is in the interest of justice, transfer such ... appeal to any other such court in which the ... appeal could have been brought at the time it was filed....

Id. As a result, we are required to transfer a case to another court when: (1) we lack jurisdiction over the case; (2) the transferee court would have possessed jurisdiction over the case at the time it was filed; and (3) transfer would be in the interest of justice. See id.; see also Paul v. INS, 348 F.3d 43, 46 (2d Cir.2003) (holding that transfer is mandatory when all conditions are met). As we have already determined that we lack jurisdiction over the case, the first of these conditions is obviously satisfied.

The second condition for transfer, which requires that another court was capable of exercising jurisdiction at the time of filing, is more complicated.¹ In general, there is a "`strong presumption in favor of judicial review of administrative action.'" Nethagani v. Mukasey, 532 F.3d 150, 154 (2d Cir.2008) (quoting INS v. St. Cyr, 533 U.S. 289, 298, 121 S.Ct. 2271, 150 L.Ed.2d 347 (2001)). Indeed, the Administrative Procedure Act provides that "[a] person suffering legal wrong because of agency action, or adversely affected or aggrieved by agency action within the meaning of a relevant statute, is entitled to judicial review thereof," 5 U.S.C. § 702, unless review is precluded by statute or the complained-of decision was committed to agency discretion, see id. § 701(a). Unless otherwise provided, the district courts possess jurisdiction over such actions. See 28 U.S.C. § 1331; Sharkey v. Quarantillo, 541 F.3d 75, 84 (2d Cir.2008) ("Because Section 1331 confers jurisdiction on the district courts, a suit that arises under the APA is properly brought in district court."). To the extent that it is not otherwise prohibited, then, a district court may properly exercise jurisdiction over this case.²

The authority of a court to review agency decisions in the immigration context, however, is expressly limited by 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(2)(B).³ Clause (i) of that statute specifically precludes all judicial review of "any judgment regarding the granting of relief under section 1182(h), 1182(i), 1229b, 1229c, or 1255 of this title." 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(2)(B)(i). Clause (ii) provides further that courts lack jurisdiction over "any other decision or action of the Attorney General or the Secretary of Homeland Security the authority for which is specified under this subchapter to be in the discretion of the Attorney General or the Secretary of Homeland Security, other than the granting of relief under section 1158(a) of this title." 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(2)(B)(ii).

8 U.S.C. § 1154(a)(1)(A)(i), pursuant to which Benicio Ruiz filed his I-130 petition on behalf of Jeanette Ruiz, states that "any citizen of the United States claiming that an alien is entitled ... to an immediate relative status ... may file a petition with the Attorney General for such classification." 8 U.S.C. § 1154(b) further provides:

After an...