Source: http://www.chanrobles.com/usa/us_supremecourt/385/214/case.php
Timestamp: 2020-01-21 05:41:53
Document Index: 602885945

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 241', '§ 241', '§ 241', '§ 241', '§ 212', '§ 241', '§ 7', '§ 241', '§ 241', '§ 241', '§ 241', '§ 7', '§ 241']

We granted certiorari in these cases to resolve a conflict between the Second and Ninth Circuits on their interpretations of § 241(f) of the Immigration and chanrobles.com-red
Nationality Act. [Footnote 1] The issue is identical in both cases and therefore lends itself to a single opinion.
Respondent Errico in No. 54, a native of Italy, falsely represented to the immigration authorities that he was a skilled mechanic with specialized experience in repairing foreign automobiles. On the basis of that misrepresentation, he was granted first preference quota status under the statutory preference scheme then in effect, and entered the United States in 1959 with his wife. A child was born to the couple in 1960 and acquired United States citizenship at birth. In 1963, deportation proceedings were commenced against Errico on the ground that he was excludable at the time of entry as not "of the proper status under the quota specified in the immigrant visa." [Footnote 2] chanrobles.com-red
Petitioner Scott in No. 91, a native of Jamaica, contracted a marriage with a United States citizen by proxy solely for the purpose of obtaining nonquota status for entry into the country. She has never lived with her husband, and never intended to do so. After entering the United States in 1958, she gave birth to an illegitimate child, who became an American citizen at birth. When the fraud was discovered, deportation proceedings were begun, and a special inquiry officer of the Immigration and Naturalization Service found her deportable on the ground that she was not a nonquota immigrant as specified in her visa. [Footnote 3] The Board of Immigration Appeals affirmed, and the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed the Board. 350 F.2d 279. The court agreed with the Board of Immigration Appeals that a sham marriage contracted solely to circumvent the immigration laws would not confer nonquota status on an alien as the spouse of an American citizen. It also affirmed the ruling that Mrs. Scott was not entitled to relief under § 241(f) because she was not otherwise admissible chanrobles.com-red
At the outset, it should be noted that even the Government agrees that § 241(f) cannot be applied with strict literalness. Literally, § 241(f) applies only when the alien is charged with entering in violation of § 212(a)(19) of the statute, which excludes from entry "[a]ny alien who . . . has procured a visa or other documentation . . . by fraud, or by willfully misrepresenting a material fact." [Footnote 4] Under this interpretation, an alien who entered by fraud could be deported for having entered with a defective visa or for other documentary irregularities even if he would have been admissible if he had not committed the fraud. The Government concedes that such an interpretation would be inconsistent with the manifest purpose of the section, and the administrative authorities have consistently held that § 241(f) waives any deportation charge that results directly from the misrepresentation regardless of the section of the statute under which the charge was brought, provided that the alien was "otherwise admissible at the time of entry." [Footnote 5] The Government's argument in both cases is that, to be otherwise admissible at the time of entry, the alien must show that he would have been admitted even if he had not lied, and that the aliens in these cases would not have been admitted because of the quota restrictions. It is the argument of the aliens that our adoption of the government thesis would negate the intention of Congress to apply fair humanitarian standards in granting relief from the consequences of their fraud to aliens who are close relatives of United States citizens, and that the statute would have practically no effect if construed as the Government argues, since it chanrobles.com-red
The misrepresentation section was not the only provision of the 1952 legislation that was widely thought to be unnecessarily harsh and restrictive, and, in 1957, Congress passed legislation alleviating in many respects the stricter provisions of the earlier legislation. The purpose of the 1957 Act is perfectly clear from its terms, as well as from the relevant House and Senate Committee chanrobles.com-red
Reports. [Footnote 9] The most important provisions of the Act provide for special nonquota status for the adopted children or illegitimate children of immigrant parents, and for orphans who have been or are to be adopted by United States citizens. Other important provisions allow the Attorney General to waive certain grounds for exclusion or deportation, including affliction with tuberculosis or conviction of a crime involving moral turpitude, on behalf of aliens who are near relatives of United States citizens or of aliens lawfully admitted for permanent residence. The intent of the Act is plainly to grant exceptions to the rigorous provisions of the 1952 Act for the purpose of keeping family units together. Congress felt that, in many circumstances, it was more important to unite families and preserve family ties than it was to enforce strictly the quota limitations or even the many restrictive sections that are designed to keep undesirable or harmful aliens out of the country. [Footnote 10]
In this context, it is not surprising that Congress also granted relief to aliens facing exclusion or deportation chanrobles.com-red
This language would be meaningless if an alien who committed fraud for the purpose of evading quota restrictions would be deportable as not "otherwise admissible at the time of entry." Congress must have felt that aliens who evaded quota restrictions by fraud would be "otherwise admissible at the time of entry," or it would not have found it necessary to provide further that, in the case of an alien not possessing a close familial relationship to a United States citizen or lawful permanent chanrobles.com-red
The intent of § 7 of the 1957 Act not to require that aliens who are close relatives of United States citizens have complied with quota restrictions to escape deportation for their fraud is clear from its language, and there is nothing in the legislative history to suggest that Congress had in mind a contrary result. The only specific chanrobles.com-red
The construction of the statute that we adopt in these cases is further reinforced when the section is regarded in the context of the 1957 Act. The fundamental purpose of this legislation was to unite families. Refugees from Communist lands were also benefited, but the Act principally granted relief to persons who would be temporarily or permanently separated from their nearest relatives if the strict requirements of the Immigration and Nationality Act, including the national quotas, were not relaxed for them. It was wholly consistent with this purpose of this legislation for Congress to provide that immigrants who gained admission by misrepresentation, perhaps many years ago, should not be deported because their countries' quotas were oversubscribed when they entered if the chanrobles.com-red
The facts in one of these cases (No. 91) vividly illustrate the effect of the Court's interpretation of § 241(f) chanrobles.com-red
It seems clear to me, for two separate and independently sufficient reasons, that this statute does not operate to bar the deportation of the aliens in the cases now chanrobles.com-red
The plain terms of § 241(f), therefore, do not even potentially apply to these aliens. [Footnote 2/2] To hold that § 241(f) is relevant to these cases is tantamount to holding that chanrobles.com-red
it is applicable to bar deportation based on any ground at all so long as the alien lied about that ground at the time of his unlawful entry. [Footnote 2/3] I think nothing could be further from the statutory language or the congressional purpose.
To except quota requirements of admissibility from the statutory qualification of "otherwise admissible" would undercut the elaborate quota system which was for years at the heart of the immigration laws. Yet the legislative history of the predecessor of § 241(f), § 7 of the 1957 Act, makes clear that the limited relief given by the statute was to have no effect at all on the quota system. [Footnote 2/4] chanrobles.com-red
Thus the plain meaning of the "otherwise admissible" qualification, as well as legislative policy and legislative history, all indicate that the term serves the same basic function in § 241(f) as in other sections of the Act. Fraud is removed as a ground for deportation of those with the requisite family ties, and "otherwise admissible" insures the integrity of the remainder of the statutory scheme. [Footnote 2/6] chanrobles.com-red