Opinion ID: 2973261
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Plaintiffs’ APA Claims

Text: The district court held that Plaintiffs waived their APA claims. Because we find that the Plaintiffs did not waive their APA claims, we address issues not discussed by the district court, namely, Defendants’ contentions that: (1) this court lacks subject matter jurisdiction because Plaintiffs failed to exhaust their administrative remedies; (2) Plaintiffs lack standing to bring their APA claims; and (3) Plaintiffs fail to state a claim under the APA. Because we find that Mr. Bangura does not have standing to challenge the denial of Chisley’s petition, that neither Plaintiff states a claim for relief based on the denial of Mr. Bangura’s petition, and that Mrs. Bangura loses on the merits of her challenge to Chisley’s petition, we affirm the district court’s dismissal of Plaintiffs’ APA claims.
This Court reviews a district court’s dismissal for failure to prosecute under the abuse of discretion standard. Carver v. Bunch, 946 F.2d 451, 452 (6th Cir. 1991). We review all other issues de novo because the district court did not reach them.

The district court abused its discretion in holding that Plaintiffs waived their APA claims. In a footnote in its opinion, the district court disposed of all of Plaintiffs’ APA claims. The district reasoned that Plaintiffs waived the APA claims by failing to address them in Plaintiffs’ response to defendant’s motion to dismiss. In Carver v. Bunch, this Court held that a district court abused its discretion in dismissing a plaintiff’s claims solely because the plaintiff failed to respond to the defendant’s motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim. 946 F.2d at 452. It reasoned that such a dismissal was akin to a dismissal for failure to prosecute, and thus, governed by the standard set forth in Rule 41 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Id. It then determined that in order for a district court to dismiss a plaintiff’s claims in response to a 12(b)(6) motion, the district court must “conclude ‘beyond a doubt that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts in support of his claim which would entitle him to relief,’” regardless of whether the plaintiff responded. Id. (quoting Haines v. Kerner, 404 U.S. 519 (1972)). Analogizing to a summary judgment motion, the court also noted that the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure place the burden on the moving party to demonstrate that the plaintiff failed to state a claim for relief. Id. at 454-55. In this case, the district court failed to address whether Plaintiff’s complaint stated a claim for relief under the APA and dismissed the APA claims solely because Plaintiffs failed to respond to Defendant’s motion. Thus, the district court’s dismissal rested on impermissible grounds. 2 There is a decent amount of support for the proposition that §1154(b) creates an interest to which procedural due process rights attach. Supreme Court precedent makes clear that non-discretionary statutes create property interests for the purpose of procedural due process. Town of Castle Rock v. Gonzales, 125 S. Ct. 2796, 2803 (2005) (citing Board of Regents of State Colleges v. Roth, 408 U.S. 564, 577 (1997)). Section 1154(b) states that the Attorney General, “shall. . . approve the petition [for immediate relative visa].” 8 U.S.C. § 1154(b) (emphasis added). The D.C. circuit explicitly held that this language created a right protected by procedural due process. Escobar v. INS, 896 F.2d 564 (D.C. Cir. 1990). Additionally, Fifth Circuit dicta implied that it would uphold a due process claim under § 1154(b). Anetekhai v. INS, 876 F.2d 1218, 1223 (5th Cir. 1989). In rejecting a substantive due process challenge to §1154(h), the section at issue in Almario, the court stated, “[c]ertainly, if Congress had conditioned an alien's eligibility for a status adjustment on the existence of a bona fide marriage, procedural due process would require that the couple be given an opportunity to establish that fact before an adjustment could be denied.” Id. If this right exists, however, it clearly belongs to the citizen spouse and not the alien spouse. Wright v. INS,379 F.2d 275, 276 (6th Cir. 1967) (holding that an alien spouse has no protected interest in an I-130 petition). No. 04-3531 Bangura, et al. v. Hansen, et al. Page 8 Moreover, the factual basis underlying the district court’s determination that Plaintiffs waived their APA claims is clearly erroneous. The district court states that Plaintiffs “fail to even mention [their APA claims] in their Memorandum.” (Op. & Or. Granting Mot. to Dismiss, March 23, 2003.) In fact, half of Plaintiffs’ memorandum in response to Defendants’ motion to dismiss is devoted to their APA claims and rebutting Defendants’ contention that Plaintiffs do not have standing to seek judicial review for their APA claims. Finally, the district court erroneously placed the burden on Plaintiffs to demonstrate that they stated a claim for relief. As noted above, this Court has determined that on a 12(b)(6) motion, the moving party bears the burden of demonstrating that the plaintiff failed to state a claim. Carver, 946 F.2d at 455. In this case, Defendants did not argue in their memorandum in support of their motion to dismiss that Plaintiffs failed to state a claim for relief under the APA. Instead, Defendants argued that the court lacked subject matter jurisdiction to hear any of Plaintiffs’ claims and that Plaintiffs failed to state a substantive or procedural due process claim. Because Defendants did not offer a single argument to support their assertion that Plaintiffs failed to state a claim for relief under the APA, Defendants failed to meet their burden of proof, and the district court should have dismissed Defendants’ motion.3
Plaintiffs’ failure to exhaust their administrative remedies does not deprive this court of subject matter jurisdiction over Plaintiffs’ APA claims. The law governing the exhaustion of APA claims differs from that governing exhaustion in other contexts. It is governed by 5 U.S.C. § 704; Darby v. Cisneros, 509 U.S. 137, 146-47 (1993). Section 704 only requires a plaintiff to exhaust his or her administrative remedies where a statute or agency rule makes the remedies mandatory. Id.; see also Dixie Fuel Co., 171 F.3d at1059. Where an intra-agency appeal is optional, however, the APA does not require a plaintiff to appeal prior to filing suit in federal court. Darby, 509 U.S. at 147 (“Section [704] explicitly requires exhaustion of all intra-agency appeals mandated either by statute or by agency rule; it would be inconsistent with the plain language of § [704] for courts to require litigants to exhaust optional appeals as well.”) In this case, it is undisputed that the INA and its implementing regulations do not require Plaintiffs to exhaust their administrative remedies before seeking review in federal court. 8 C.F.R. § 103.3(a)(ii) (providing that a party “may” appeal to the BIA). This is because Plaintiffs do not appeal an order of removal but the denial of spousal immigration petition. In contrast to orders of removal, the INA does not require aliens to appeal denials of spousal immigration petitions to the BIA before seeking relief in federal court. Compare id. with 8 U.S.C. § 1252(d)(1) (requiring aliens to appeal to BIA before appealing an order of removal in federal court). Therefore, this Court does not have the authority to require Plaintiffs to appeal to the BIA before bringing their claims under the APA in federal court. 3 Nonetheless, this Court can address Plaintiffs’ failure to state a claim because this Court may uphold a district court’s order on any ground supported by the record. City Mgmt. Corp. v. U.S. Chemical Corp., 43 F.3d 244, 251 (6th Cir. 1994). No. 04-3531 Bangura, et al. v. Hansen, et al. Page 9
Section 10 of the APA grants all parties “adversely affected or aggrieved” by a final agency action prudential standing to bring suit in federal court.4 5 U.S.C. § 702. A person is “adversely affected or aggrieved” within the meaning of the APA if his or her claim meets the “zone of interest” test. Nat’l Credit Union Admin. v. First Nat’l Bank, 522 U.S. 479, 487-90 (1998) (emphasis in original) (holding that the APA incorporates the “zone of interest” test); Fed. Election Comm’n v. Akins, 524 U.S. 11, 19-20 (1998) (holding that Congress waives all prudential limitations on standing except for “the zone of interest” test when it grants “aggrieved” parties the right to sue). To meet the requirements of the “zone of interest test,” a plaintiff must establish that the interest he or she seeks to protect, “is arguably within the zone of interests to be protected [] by the statute” under which the plaintiff sues. Nat’l Credit Union Admin., 522 U.S. at 492. The Supreme Court has repeatedly emphasized that the “zone of interest” test does not require a plaintiff to establish that Congress specifically intended to benefit the plaintiff. Id.; see also Clarke v. Security Indus. Ass’n, 479 U.S. 388, 399-400 (1987) (“‘[the] zone of interest’ test is a guide for deciding whether, in view of Congress' evident intent to make agency action presumptively reviewable, a particular plaintiff should be heard to complain of a particular agency decision. In cases where the plaintiff is not itself the subject of the contested regulatory action, the test denies a right of review if the plaintiff's interests are so marginally related to or inconsistent with the purposes implicit in the statute that it cannot reasonably be assumed that Congress intended to permit the suit. The test is not meant to be especially demanding; in particular, there need be no indication of congressional purpose to benefit the would-be plaintiff.”); Courtney v. Smith, 297 F.3d 455, 461 (6th Cir. 2002). Rather, the “zone of interest” test entails a two part inquiry. First, the court must determine what interests the statute arguably was intended to protect, and second, the court must determine whether the “plaintiff’s interests affected by the agency action in question are among them.” Nat’l Credit Union Admin., 522 U.S. at 492; see also Courtney, 297 F.3d at 461. In this case, both Plaintiffs’ interests fall within the 8 U.S.C. §§ 1151(a)’s and 1154(a)’s “zone[s] of interest,” and thus, both Plaintiffs have prudential standing to sue under the APA. Congress enacted the immediate relative visa as a part of the Immigration Reform Act of 1965. S. Rep. No. 748 (1965), as reprinted in 1965 U.S.C.C.A.N. 3328, 3341. The Immigration Reform Act of 1965 replaced a quota system based on national origin with a system based on preferences to relatives of U.S. citizens and aliens legally residing in the United States. Id. at 3329. The new system aims to prevent family members from being separated. Id. at 3332. “Reunification of families is to be the foremost consideration . . . . In order that the family unit can be preserved as much as possible, parents of adult U.S. citizens, as well as spouses and children, may enter the country without numerical limitation.” Id. Because the interest both Plaintiffs seek to protect – the preservation of their family unit – is the primary interest the INA’s immediate relative visa provisions were designed to protect, both Plaintiffs’ interests fall within the 8 U.S.C. § 1151(a)’s and 1154(a)’s zone of interest. Although Mrs. Bangura, as an alien, probably cannot claim that Congress intended to specifically benefit her by enacting 8 U.S.C. §§ 1151 and 1154, whether Congress intended to benefit aliens is not relevant to this court’s inquiry. See Nat’l Credit Union Admin., 522 U.S. at 492. The relevant inquiry is whether Congress intended to insure that spouses of American citizens could live in the United States with their families. See id. Thus, the fact that Mrs. Bangura is an alien does not deprive her of the right to sue under the APA. Ghaly v. INS, 48 F.3d 1426,1434 n.6 4 The government’s argument that only the citizen spouse has “standing” to appeal to the BIA under the INA is irrelevant to Plaintiffs’ standing to sue in federal district court under the APA. Ghaly v. INS, 48 F.3d 1426, 1434 n.6 (7th Cir. 1995). The cases the government cites discuss the authority of the BIA to hear an appeal from a non-citizen. Id.; In re Sano, 19 I.&N. Dec. 299 (BIA 1985). They do not address the authority of a federal court to hear claims. Ghaly, 48 F.3d at 1434 n.6. Instead, the issue of standing under the APA is governed by an extensive body of Supreme Court case law. See infra; Ghaly, 48 F.3d at 1434 n.6. No. 04-3531 Bangura, et al. v. Hansen, et al. Page 10 (7th Cir. 1995) (holding that immigrant beneficiary of an employer’s visa application fell within the visa statute’s “zone of interest,” and thus, had standing to challenge the visa’s revocation under the APA); Taneja v. Smith, 795 F.2d 355, 358 n.7 (4th Cir. 1986) (same). Nonetheless, while both Plaintiffs are “adversely affected” within the meaning of the APA, Mr. Bangura does not have constitutional standing to challenge the INS’s denial of Chisley’s petition. Article III standing requires that a plaintiff suffer injury-in-fact that is fairly traceable to the defendant’s illegal conduct and redresssable by the requested relief. Allen v. Wright, 468 U.S. 737, 750 (1984). Mr. Bangura does not allege any injury-in-fact that is fairly traceable to the INS’s denial of Chisley’s petition. See id. The denial did not deprive Mr. Bangura of any legal right. Additionally, it did not result in the loss of his wife’s company because denial of Chisley’s petition did not result in the deportation of Mrs. Bangura. Finally, it did not cause the denial of Mr. Bangura’s petition. It was not the actual denial of Chisley’s petition that prejudiced Mr. Bangura’s petition but the alleged collateral use of that decision in the DHS’ denial of Mr. Bangura’s own petition. This collateral use is properly characterized as a part of DHS’s denial of Mr. Bangura’s petition and not the INS’s denial of Chisley’s petition. Furthermore, to the extent Mr. Bangura alleges injury-in-fact through the collateral use of the INS’s denial of Chisley’s petition, it is not redressable through a challenge to Chisley’s petition. To grant relief with respect to the alleged collateral use of the 1998 fraud finding, this Court would have to reverse the DHS’s denial of Mr. Bangura’s petition. Thus, we find that Mr. Bangura does not have constitutional standing to challenge the denial of the INS’s denial of Chisley’s petition.
To state a claim for relief under the APA, a plaintiff must allege that his or her injury stems from a final agency action for which there is no other adequate remedy in court. 5 U.S.C. § 704; Gillis v. U.S. Dep’t of Health and Human Servs., 759 F.2d 565, 575 (6th Cir. 1985.) Because the INS’s denial of Chisley’s petition is a final agency action, for which there is no other adequate remedy in court, Mrs. Bangura states a claim for relief under the APA. Neither Plaintiff, however, can challenge the DHS’s denial of Mr. Bangura’s petition under the APA because Mr. Bangura’s pending appeal renders the decision non-final.
An action is final where it: (1) marks the “consummation of the agency’s decision-making process;” and (2) determines rights and obligations or occasions legal consequences. Bennett v. Spear, 520 U.S. 154, 177-78 (1997); Airbrake Sys., Inc. v. Mineta, 357 F.3d 632, 639 (6th Cir. 2004). Additionally, the APA defines final action to include: agency action otherwise final . . . whether or not there has been presented or determined an application for . . . any form of reconsideration, or, unless the agency otherwise requires by rule and provides that the action meanwhile is inoperative, for an appeal to superior agency authority. 5 U.S.C. § 704. The Supreme Court has noted in dicta, however, that this “language has long been construed by this and other courts merely to relieve parties from the requirement of petitioning for a rehearing before seeking judicial review . . . but not to prevent petitions for reconsideration that are actually filed from rendering the orders under reconsideration non final.” Interstate Com. Comm’n v. Bhd. of Locomotive Eng’rs, 482 U.S. 270, 284-85 (1987). In this case, Plaintiffs allege three purported final agency actions: (1) the INS’s denial of Chisley’s petition; (2) the DHS’s denial of Mr. Bangura’s petition; and (3) the 1998 fraud finding. Only the INS’s denial of Chisley’s petition is a final agency action under the APA. The INS’s denial of Chisley’s petition is final because it marked the consummation of the INS’s decision-making No. 04-3531 Bangura, et al. v. Hansen, et al. Page 11 process with regard to Chisley’s visa petition, and it determined the right of Chisley to a spousal visa for Mrs. Bangura. See Bennett, 520 U.S. at 177-78. Although the same reasoning applied to the DHS’s initial denial of Mr. Bangura’s petition, Mr. Bangura’s decision to take his optional appeal rendered the earlier decision non-final. Bhd. of Locomotive Eng’rs, 482 U.S. at 284. While the language of the APA quoted above admittedly seems to require a different outcome – “whether or not there has been presented . . . an application for . . . any form of reconsideration” – the Supreme Court and D.C. Circuit have determined that it does not. Id.; Outland v. Civil Aeronautics Bd., 284 F.2d 224, 227 (D.C. Cir. 1960). Thus, this Court defers to their interpretation of § 704. In contrast, the 1998 fraud finding was never a final decision. It did not mark the consummation of the INS’s decision-making process. See Bennett, 520 U.S. at 177-78. Once the INS determined that Chisley’s marriage was fraudulent, the INS was still required to determine the legal consequences of its factual finding under the INA. The application of the law to the factual findings resulted in a final action: the INS’s denial of Chisley’s petition.
Finally, Mrs. Bangura has no other adequate remedy to challenge the INS’s denial of Chisley’s petition. Section 704’s requirement that there be no other “adequate remedy in court” insures that the APA’s general grant of jurisdiction to review agency decisions is not duplicative of more specific statutory procedures for judicial review. See Bowen v. Massachusetts, 487 U.S. 879, 903 (1988) (noting that provisions providing for appeal directly to federal courts of appeal or panels of district court judges could not be avoided by suing under the APA). The essential inquiry is whether another statutory scheme of judicial review exists so as to preclude review under the more general provisions of the APA. Id. This inquiry differs from the exhaustion inquiry in that the focus of this inquiry is not on available administrative remedies, but on available federal court remedies. Compare Bowen, 487 U.S. at 903 (discussing § 704’s requirement that there be no other “adequate remedy in court” ) with Darby, 509 U.S. at 145-46 (discussing § 704’s exhaustion requirement). As the INA does not specifically provide for federal court review of denials of visa petitions, there is no other adequate remedy in court that would preclude APA review. See generally, 8 U.S.C. §§ 1151-1378 (not providing for appeals to district courts from denials of immediate relative visa petitions); 8 C.F.R. §§ 1-499 (same). Thus, Mrs. Bangura states a claim under the APA based on the INS’s denial of Chisley’s petition, and the district court correctly dismissed all other APA claims.
As discussed above, Plaintiffs’ can only state a claim for relief based upon the INS’s denial of Chisley’s petition, and only Mrs. Bangura has constitutional standing to challenge that decision. Thus, this Court only needs to address the merits of Mrs. Bangura’s challenge to the INS’s denial of Chisley’s petition. Because we find that the INS did not violate the APA or the INA in denying Chisley’s petition, we affirm the district court's dismissal of Mrs. Bangura’s APA claim.
The APA directs courts to review agency actions under a deferential standard. Carabell v. U.S. Army Corp. of Eng’rs, 391 F.3d 704, 707 (6th Cir. 2004); N.E. Ohio Reg. Sewer Dist. v. Env’t Prot. Agency, 411 F.3d 726, 731 (6th Cir. 2003). A court may not set aside or hold unlawful an agency action unless that action is arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion or otherwise not in accordance with law. 5 U.S.C.§ 706(2)(A); see also Carabell, 391 F.3d at 707; N.E. Ohio Reg. Sewer Dist., 411 F.3d at 731. An agency decision is arbitrary and capricious if the agency fails to examine relevant evidence or articulate a satisfactory explanation for the decision. Motor Vehicles No. 04-3531 Bangura, et al. v. Hansen, et al. Page 12 Mfrs. Ass’n v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 463 U.S. 29, 42-43 (1983). The reviewing court “may not supply a reasoned basis for the agency's action that the agency itself has not given.” Id. at 43. However, “[e]ven when an agency explains its decision with less than ideal clarity, a reviewing court will not upset the decision on that account if the agency’s path may reasonably be discerned.” Alaska Dep’t of Env’t Conservation v. EPA, 540 U.S. 461, 497 (2004).
In addition to arbitrary and capricious review, the APA authorizes courts to review agency actions for conformity with law. 5 U.S.C.§ 706(2)(A); see also Carabell, 391 F.3d at 707; N.E. Ohio Reg. Sewer Dist., 411 F.3d at 731. In this case, the relevant law is contained in the INA and its implementing regulations, which govern petitions for immediate relative visas. In particular, the issues in this case revolve around the application of § 204(c) of the INA, which requires the Attorney General to deny a visa petition made on behalf of any alien whom the Attorney General determines “previously [] accorded or [] 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 immigration laws.” 8 U.S.C. § 1154(c). Under the INA, a determination of marriage fraud made pursuant to § 204(c) must be supported by substantial and probative evidence. In re Agninaoay, 16 I.&N. Dec. 545, 546 (BIA 1978); In re Tawfik, 20 I.&N. Dec. 166, 167 (BIA 1990). Therefore, this Court must overturn any finding of marriage fraud not supported by substantial and probative evidence. iii. The INS’s Denial of Chisley’s Petition Did Not Violate the APA or the INA The INS did not violate the APA when it denied Chisley’s petition for a spousal visa because the denial was not arbitrary and capricious and was supported by substantial evidence. The denial was not arbitrary and capricious because the INS supplied Chisley with a reasoned explanation. As the INS explained, the evidence indicated that Mrs. Bangura’s marriage to Chisley was fraudulent, and thus, the INA required it to deny Chisley's petition. Furthermore, the INS’s factual finding of fraud was supported by substantial and probative evidence. Mrs. Bangura’s divorce decree from her first marriage appeared to be fraudulent. Next, Chisley and Mrs. Bangura were not living together. Additionally, Chisley and Mrs. Bangura did not own joint property. While Mrs. Bangura may offer a different explanation for these facts, an alternative explanation does not negate the reasonableness of the INS’s finding of fraud. Finally, the Banguras point to no provision of the INA that the INS violated in denying Chisley’s petition. Therefore, we find that Mrs. Bangura does not prevail on the merits of her APA claim and affirm the district court’s dismissal. III.