Wanrong Lin v. Nielsen, Case No.: GJH-18-3548

• Decision Date: 02 May 2019
• Docket Number: Case No.: GJH-18-3548
• Citation: 377 F.Supp.3d 556
• Parties: WANRONG LIN, et al., Plaintiff-Petitioners, v. Kirstjen NIELSEN, et al., Defendant-Respondents.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Maryland

377 F.Supp.3d 556

WANRONG LIN, et al., Plaintiff-Petitioners,

v.Kirstjen NIELSEN, et al., Defendant-Respondents.

Case No.: GJH-18-3548

United States District Court, D. Maryland, Southern Division.

Signed May 2, 2019

David Robert Rocah, ACLU of Maryland, Maria E. Rodriguez, Nathaniel S. Berry, Venable LLP, Nicholas Taichi Steiner, American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland, Baltimore, MD, for Plaintiff-Petitioners.

Allen F. Loucks, Vickie LeDuc, Office of the United States Attorney, Baltimore, MD, Julian M. Kurz, Durwood Riedel, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, DC, for Defendant-Respondents.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

GEORGE J. HAZEL, United States District Judge

Undocumented spouses of U.S. citizens who entered the United States without inspection or who have been ordered removed from the United States are eligible to apply for lawful status that will permit them to reside permanently in the United States, but only after leaving the United States to complete a procedure called consular processing. This process often results in long periods of separation, and many spouses have thus chosen not to apply for lawful status. In 2016, in recognition of this problem, United States Customs and Immigration Services ("USCIS") promulgated a rule that allowed spouses with final orders of removal to apply for a waiver of inadmissibility prior to leaving the United States to begin the consular processing procedure.

Plaintiff-Petitioner Wanrong Lin and his American-citizen wife, Plaintiff-Petitioner Hui Fang Dong (collectively, "Petitioners") applied for this waiver and, on August 29, 2018, arrived at a USCIS office for a mandatory interview to confirm that their relationship was bona fide. After the interview concluded, Lin was escorted into a separate room where he was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement ("ICE") officers. Petitioners filed a complaint and petition for habeas corpus, alleging that his arrest, detention, and removal are in violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act, the Due Process Clause, and the Administrative Procedure Act. ECF No. 1. Petitioners subsequently filed a Motion for a Preliminary Injunction. ECF No. 15. A motions hearing was held on March 15, 2019. ECF No. 22. For the following reasons, the Motion for a Preliminary Injunction is granted.

I. BACKGROUND

A. Legal Background

An alien "who has been ordered removed" is inadmissible for re-entry to the United States for five, ten, or twenty years from the date of departure or removal, depending on whether the alien is removed upon arrival, is removed after arrival, has already been removed once before, or has been convicted of an aggravated felony.¹ 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(9)(A)(i-ii) ; 8 C.F.R. 212.2(a). An alien who remains "inadmissible" is ineligible to receive a visa to be admitted to the United States as a lawful permanent resident. 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a). This inadmissibility may be waived by the Secretary of Homeland Security's consent to reapply for admission, 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(9)(A)(iii), but the waiver application process can take well over a year, 78 Fed. Reg. 536-01, 536 (Jan. 3, 2013). Prior to 2013, an alien who wanted to seek lawful permanent resident status and apply for this waiver of admissibility was required to first depart from the United States. Id.

In 2013, recognizing that undocumented immediate family members of citizens who were living in the United States were choosing to forego applying for visas rather than be separated from their families for at least a year, and potentially longer, the Department of Homeland Security ("DHS") promulgated a rule "to allow certain immediate relatives of U.S. Citizens who are physically present in the United States to request provisional unlawful presence waivers prior to departing from the United States for consular processing of their immigrant visa applications." Id. ("[M]any immediate relatives who may qualify for an immigrant visa are reluctant to proceed abroad to seek an immigrant visa."). The rule was expressly promulgated to "significantly reduce the time that U.S. citizens are separated from their immediate relatives,"Id. , and to "encourage immediate relatives who are unlawfully present to initiate actions to obtain an immigrant visa to become [lawful permanent residents]," Id. at 567. In 2016, DHS promulgated another rule extending eligibility for these provisional unlawful presence waivers to aliens with final removal orders. 81 Fed. Reg. 50244.

The process requires first filling out a Form I-130, which establishes a qualifying relationship to a U.S. citizen. 78 Fed. Reg. 536-01 at 547-48. After the Form I-130 is approved, the individual must file a Form I-212, which requests a waiver of inadmissibility and, pursuant to 8 C.F.R. § 212.2(j), can be conditionally approved while the individual remains in the United States. 78 Fed. Reg. 536-01 at 547-48. Once the I-212 is conditionally approved, the individual must complete Form I-601A, an application for a provisional unlawful presence waiver. Id. ; see also 8 C.F.R. § 212.7(e)(4)(iv). Once the waiver is approved, the individual departs from the United States to obtain the immigrant visa, executing the prior removal order. See 8 U.S.C. § 1101(g).

B. Factual Background

Petitioner Dong became a naturalized U.S. Citizen on February 24, 2004. ECF No. 1 ¶ 29. Petitioners have been married since May 2004. Id. ¶ 28. Petitioner Lin is a citizen of the People's Republic of China and has had a removal order from the United States since his request for asylum was denied on March 10, 2008. Id. ¶¶ 28-29. The Board of Immigration Appeals ("BIA") affirmed the denial in November 2009, and later denied a motion to reopen. Id. ¶ 29; Lin v. Holder , 771 F.3d 177, 181 (4th Cir. 2014). The Fourth Circuit denied a petition for review in 2011. Lin v. Holder , 452 F. App'x 369 (4th Cir. 2011). Lin filed another motion to reopen in December 2012, which was also denied by the BIA, and the Fourth Circuit once more denied a petition for review. Lin , 771 F.3d 177.

In 2016, Petitioners began the provisional waiver application process by completing a Form I-130. Id. ¶ 31. As part of this process, USCIS scheduled Petitioners for a mandatory interview on August 29, 2018 to determine that they were in a bona fide relationship. Id. Though the USCIS interviewer approved the petition, ICE agents arrested Mr. Lin at the conclusion of the interview and transported him to Anne Arundel County Detention Center to be held for deportation. Id . On November 19, 2018 at 9:35 AM EST, Petitioners filed this complaint and petition for habeas corpus, as well as a motion for a temporary restraining order staying Lin's deportation. A flight carrying Mr. Lin departed from Newark, NJ for Shanghai, China at 9:54 AM that same day. A hearing was held at 3:00 PM that afternoon. ECF No. 4. That evening, before Lin's flight arrived in Shanghai, the Court granted the motion for a temporary restraining order and ordered ICE to return Lin to the United States. ECF No. 6. Lin was returned to the United States on December 13, 2018. ECF No. 11. The pending Motion for Preliminary Injunction was filed on December 19, 2018. ECF No. 15.

II. DISCUSSION

Defendants contest both the Court's jurisdiction to hear Petitioners' challenge and the merits of the motion for a preliminary injunction.

A. Jurisdiction

First, Defendants contend that 8 U.S.C. §§ 1252(a)(5), 1252(b)(9), and 1252(g) each deprive the Court of jurisdiction to enjoin the execution of Lin's removal order. A federal court must have subject-matter jurisdiction to decide a matter before it. Lightfoot v. Cendant Mortg. Corp. , ––– U.S. ––––, 137 S.Ct. 553, 562, 196 L.Ed.2d 493 (2017). If it does not, then the court must dismiss the case. Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(1). Federal courts "only have the power that is authorized by Article III of the Constitution and the statutes enacted by Congress." Bender v. Williamsport Area Sch. Dist. , 475 U.S. 534, 541, 106 S.Ct. 1326, 89 L.Ed.2d 501 (1986) ; see also Sheldon v. Sill , 49 U.S. 8 How. 441, 449, 12 L.Ed. 1147 (1850) ("And it would seem to follow, also, that, having a right to prescribe, Congress may withhold from any court of its creation jurisdiction of any of the enumerated controversies."). But when interpreting a statute that a party asserts limits judicial review, courts must "begin with the strong presumption that Congress intends judicial review of administrative action." Berkley v. Mountain Valley Pipeline , 896 F.3d 624, 631 (4th Cir. 2018) (quoting Bowen v. Mich. Acad. Of Family Physicians , 476 U.S. 667, 670, 106 S.Ct. 2133, 90 L.Ed.2d 623 (1986) ). This presumption can be overcome "only upon a showing of ‘clear and convincing evidence’ of a contrary legislative intent." Abbott Labs. v. Gardner , 387 U.S. 136, 141, 87 S.Ct. 1507, 18 L.Ed.2d 681 (1967). Clear and convincing evidence of contrary intent can be established by "specific language, specific legislative history, and inferences of intent drawn from the statutory scheme as a whole that Congress intended to bar review." Cuozzo Speed Techs., LLC v. Lee , ––– U.S. ––––, 136 S.Ct. 2131, 2140, 195 L.Ed.2d 423 (2016) (quotations omitted).

Section 1252(a)(5) states that "a petition for review filed with an appropriate court of appeals in accordance with this section shall be the sole and exclusive means for judicial review of an order of removal entered or issued under any provision of this chapter." Section 1252(b)(9) goes on to further state that:

[j]udicial review of all questions of law and fact, including interpretation and application of constitutional and statutory provisions, arising from any action taken or proceeding brought to remove an alien from the United States under this subchapter shall be available only in judicial review of a final order under this section.

Defendants argue that these provisions, together, bar judicial review of any claim having any relationship to Lin's removal. Specifically, Defendants contend that Pla...