Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-ca8-14-03623/USCOURTS-ca8-14-03623-1/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 465
Nature of Suit: Other Immigration Actions
Cause of Action: 

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United States Court of Appeals

For the Eighth Circuit

___________________________

No. 14-3623

___________________________

Sriram Rajasekaran; Kasthuri Sriramvenugopal; Mughil Sriramvenugopal

lllllllllllllllllllll Plaintiffs - Appellants

v.

Mark Hazuda, Director, Nebraska Service Center, U.S. Citizenship and

Immigration Services; Leon Rodriguez, Director, United States Citizenship and

Immigration Services; Eric H. Holder, Jr., Attorney General of the United States;

Jeh Johnson, Secretary, Department of Homeland Security

lllllllllllllllllllll Defendants - Appellees

____________

Appeal from United States District Court 

for the District of Nebraska - Lincoln

____________

 Submitted: September 22, 2015

 Filed: January 29, 2016 

____________

Before LOKEN, BENTON, and SHEPHERD, Circuit Judges.

____________

BENTON, Circuit Judge

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) revoked an I-140

petition and then denied Sriram Rajasekaran’s I-485 adjustment-of-status application. 

Appellate Case: 14-3623 Page: 1 Date Filed: 01/29/2016 Entry ID: 4361354 
Rajasekaran sought judicial review. The district court1

 dismissed for lack of subjectmatter jurisdiction. Having jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, this court affirms.2

I.

To hire an immigrant-worker, an employer must file an I-140 petition with

USCIS. INA § 203(b)(2). Once approved, the immigrant can file an I-485

adjustment-of-status application. 8 U.S.C. § 1255. The American Competitiveness

in the Twenty-First Century Act of 2000 (“AC21”) creates a job-portability

mechanism: if an I-485 application is not adjudicated within 180 days, the underlying

I-140 petition remains valid if the immigrant changes jobs (“ports”), so long as the

immigrant stays in the same or similar occupational classification. 

8 U.S.C. § 1154(j). Porting eliminates the need for the new employer to file an I-140

petition on the immigrant’s behalf. Id. 

The Attorney General may revoke an approved I-140 petition “at any time, for

what he deems to be good and sufficient cause. . . .” 8 U.S.C. § 1155. Notice of an

intent to revoke must be sent to the employer-petitioner. 8 C.F.R. § 205.2(b). USCIS

must allow the employer to examine evidence “which constitutes the basis for the

decision. . . .” § 103.2(b)(16). The employer may submit evidence to support the

petition, and if revoked, may appeal. Id.; § 205.2(c), (d). The beneficiary of a

petition—the immigrant-worker—has no standing to appeal to the agency for review

of an I-140 revocation. § 103.3(a)(1)(iii)(B).

1 The Honorable Richard G. Kopf, Senior United States District Judge for the

District of Nebraska.

2

 This court’s prior opinion of December 1, 2015, is hereby vacated and this

opinion substituted for it. The pending Petition for Panel Rehearing is denied as

moot.

-2-

Appellate Case: 14-3623 Page: 2 Date Filed: 01/29/2016 Entry ID: 4361354 
Rajasekaran is a native and citizen of India. In 2006, Pacific West Corporation

filed an I-140 petition on his behalf. USCIS approved it. Rajasekaran and his family

filed I-485 adjustment-of-status applications, which remained unadjudicated for more

than 180 days. Rajasekaran ported twice to new employers. Neither filed an I-140

petition on his behalf. In 2012, Pacific West closed. Later that year, USCIS issued

a Notice of Intent to Revoke the I-140 petition by Pacific West on behalf of

Rajasekaran. The Notice was sent to Pacific West and its lawyer, alleging the I-140

petition was fraudulently filed. Pacific West did not respond. 

Rajasekaran learned of the Notice through Pacific West’s lawyer (who also

represented Rajasekaran). He responded, requesting more specific information about

the allegations. USCIS provided nothing further. Instead, it revoked the I-140

petition for cause, denied Rajasekaran’s motion to reopen/reconsider, and denied his

I-485 application. Rajasekaran sought judicial review. He argued that USCIS had

revoked the I-140 petition without fully disclosing the basis for the revocation as

required by 8 C.F.R. § 103.2(b)(16). He also contested the I-485 denial. 

On a motion for summary judgment, the district court dismissed the action

without prejudice for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction. This court reviews de novo

questions of law, jurisdictional questions, and decisions on summary judgment

motions. Abdelwahab v. Frazier, 578 F.3d 817, 820 (8th Cir. 2009); Rochling v.

Dep’t of Veterans Affairs, 725 F.3d 927, 937 (8th Cir. 2013); Bernal-Rendon v.

Gonzales, 419 F.3d 877, 880 (8th Cir. 2005).

II.

Rajasekaran challenges the I-140 revocation, alleging USCIS did not comply

with the disclosure requirements in 8 C.F.R. § 103.2(b)(16). Courts lack jurisdiction

to review any “decision or action of the Attorney General or the Secretary of

Homeland Security the authority for which is . . . in the discretion of the Attorney

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General or the Secretary of Homeland Security. . . .” 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(2)(B)(ii). 

“If the statute specifies that the decision is wholly discretionary, regulations or agency

practice will not make the decision reviewable.”Abdelwahab, 578 F.3d at 821 n.6,

quoting Spencer Enters., Inc. v. United States, 345 F.3d 683, 691 (9th Cir. 2003)

(internal citations omitted). Accordingly, an I-140 revocation is generally

unreviewable. See Id. at 821; Mantena v. Johnson, 2015 WL 9487867, at *5 (2d Cir.

Dec. 30, 2015) (and cases cited within). However, still reviewable is “a predicate

legal question that amounts to a nondiscretionary determination underlying the denial

of relief.” Abdelwahab, 578 F.3d at 821, quoting Ibrahimi v. Holder, 566 F.3d 758,

764 (8th Cir. 2009). Accord Mejia Rodriguez v. U.S. Dept. of Homeland Sec., 562

F.3d 1137, 1144-45 (11th Cir. 2009) (holding that despite § 1252(a)(2)(B)(ii), the

court had jurisdiction over statutory eligibility determinations underlying a Temporary

Protected Status application). 

Whether an agency exceeds its statutory authority is necessarily a predicate

legal question; whether an agency exceeds its regulatory authority is not necessarily

a predicate legal question. Compare Ibrahimi, 566 F.3d at 764 (reviewing whether

the BIA correctly found an alien statutorily ineligible for a good-faith-marriage

waiver), with Abdelwahab, 578 F.3d at 821 (holding no jurisdiction to review

whether the proper USCIS office revoked an I-140 petition under 8 C.F.R. § 205.5(a)). 

Courts review an agency’s compliance with its own regulations when, for example,

the rules were “intended primarily to confer important procedural benefits upon

individuals in the face of otherwise unfettered discretion. . . .” American Farm Lines

v. Black Ball Freight Serv., 397 U.S. 532, 538-39 (1970). However, “where a

procedural rule is designed primarily to benefit the agency in carrying out its

functions, judicial review may be circumscribed.” Ngure v. Ashcroft, 367 F.3d 975,

983 (8th Cir. 2004) (holding the court lacked jurisdiction to review the BIA’s decision

to affirm-without-opinion the denial of an asylum application). Also, courts consider

whether “it is not possible to devise an adequate standard of review for an agency

action.” Id. at 982, citing ICC v. Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, 482 U.S.

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270, 282 (1987). 

USCIS notified the lawyer for both Rajasekaran and Pacific West of the reasons

for revoking the I-140 petition. Rajasekaran complains that the notice was

insufficiently detailed and not addressed to him directly, and that USCIS then revoked

Pacific West’s I-140 without giving him adequate opportunity to respond to the fraud

charges. These complaints do not overcome Congress’s broad prohibition of judicial

review in § 1252(a)(2)(B)(ii), nor “the tradition of agency discretion over internal

procedures.” Id. at 983. This court therefore lacks jurisdiction to review the agency’s

discretionary procedural decisions, such as how to respond to discovery demands by

those asserting an interest in the proceedings.

The district court properly dismissed this claim for lack of subject-matter

jurisdiction. 

III.

Rajasekaran argued that he was statutorily eligible for adjustment-of-status

under the job-portability provision of AC21. To be eligible, an immigrant must

satisfy three requirements: (1) the immigrant must submit an I-485 application,

(2) the immigrant must be eligible to receive an immigrant visa and be admissible for

permanent residence, and (3) the visa must be immediately available. 8 U.S.C.

§ 1255(a). 

A valid I-140 petition satisfies the second requirement for adjustment-of-status.

Under AC21’s job-portability provision, an I-140 “shall remain valid” if an immigrant

changes jobs. 8 U.S.C. § 1154(j) (emphasis added). That is, an I-140 petition is valid

after porting if it was valid to begin with. See Matter of Al Wazzan, 25 I & N Dec.

359, 365-67 (Admin. App. Off. 2010) (noting that porting occurs only if the I-140

petition was “‘valid’ to begin with,” that is “filed for an alien who is ‘entitled’ to the

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Appellate Case: 14-3623 Page: 5 Date Filed: 01/29/2016 Entry ID: 4361354 
requested classification”).

Here, Rajasekaran could not port his I-140 because the I-140 was not valid to

begin with: USCIS found numerous petition deficiencies in its investigation of Pacific

West’s fraud. Rajasekaran is not statutorily eligible to adjust status.3

 

* * * * * * *

The dismissal is affirmed.

______________________________

3 The district court ruled it could not review this question, citing 8 U.S.C.

§ 1252(a)(2)(B)(i) (courts lack jurisdiction to review “any judgment regarding the

granting of relief under section 1182(h), 1182(i), 1229b, 1229c, or 1255 of [the

INA]”). Rajasekaran challenges this ruling. 

The circuits disagree whether courts can review questions of statutory eligibility

for § 1255 relief. Compare Mamigonian v. Biggs, 710 F.3d 936, 945 (9th Cir. 2013)

(“[D]istrict courts have jurisdiction to hear cases challenging final agency

determinations respecting eligibility for the immigration benefits enumerated in

8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(2)(B)(i) made on nondiscretionary grounds, provided there is no

pending removal proceeding in which an alien could apply for such benefits.”); Pinho

v. Gonzales, 432 F.3d 193, 204 (3d Cir. 2005) (“Determination of eligibility for

adjustment of status—unlike the granting of adjustment itself—is a purely legal

question and does not implicate agency discretion.”), with Lee v. USCIS, 592 F.3d

612, 618-20 (4th Cir. 2010) (“[T]he denial of an application for adjustment of status

under § 1255(i) is not amenable to judicial review.”). 

This question of statutory interpretation need not be addressed here. See

Lukowski v. I.N.S., 279 F.3d 644, 647 n.1 (8th Cir. 2002), citing Steel Co. v. Citizens

for a Better Env’t, 523 U.S. 83, 95-104 (1998). 

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