Opinion ID: 2446
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Whether the 1996 INS Amendment Violated the Joint Action Requirement

Text: The airlines challenged a 1996 amendment to the tourist visa waiver regulation that preserved the visa requirement when the alien was granted an emergency waiver. The airlines claimed that the 1996 amendment was void because it was promulgated by the INS alone and therefore did not comply with the joint action requirement. The district court granted summary judgment to the INS in Finnair based on its ruling in United Airlines, apparently believing that because United Airlines invalidated any agency rule exempting airlines from a fine in certain cases, the INS could fine airlines regardless of which regulation applied. The visa waiver statute states that the visa requirement may be waived by the Attorney General and the Secretary of State acting jointly... (A) on the basis of unforeseen emergency in individual cases. 8 U.S.C. § 1182(d)(4). Over the years, these two agencies have treated this statute as giving each of them joint authority over visa waivers. Prior to 1996, the State Department and the INS exercised this joint regulatory power by enacting parallel visa waiver regulations. The INS version stated that [a] visa and a passport are not required of a nonimmigrant who... satisfies the district director of the existence of an unforeseen emergency. 8 C.F.R. § 212.1(g) (1995). The State Department's version stated that [a] visa and a passport are not required of an alien if... the responsible [INS officer] concludes that the alien is unable to present the [visa] because of an unforeseen emergency. 22 C.F.R. § 41.2(j) (1997). In 1996, the INS alone enacted a new version of the regulation, which preserved the visa requirement when the alien was granted a waiver. The 1996 regulation required tourists to present a visa even if they received a post-arrival waiver, thus making the airlines subject to a fine under the BIA Rule for having brought the tourists to the United States. [7] The State Department did not issue a new parallel regulation to the same effect until 1999. In the interim, the INS fined airlines pursuant to its 1996 amendment. Finnair's central claim is that the INS amendment is void because it does not comply with a requirement that the INS and State Department jointly regulate in this area. Thus, the question we address here is whether the fines issued in the interim period between 1996 and 1999 are valid. The INS makes two counterarguments. First, it claims that the State Department delegated its authority over visa waivers to the INS in 1991. Prior to 1991, before granting an emergency visa waiver an INS officer was required to seek concurrence of the Department of State Visa Office. In 1991, to save resources for both agencies and reduce the time it takes to admit certain nonimmigrant aliens, the two agencies amended their parallel regulations so that an INS officer would no longer need to seek the concurrence of the Department of State when granting a waiver. See Waiver of Certain Types of Visas, 56 Fed. Reg. 36,028 (July 30, 1991) (to be codified at 8 C.F.R. pt. 212). The INS now asserts that the 1991 amendment made the joint action requirement for promulgating and amending regulations meaningless in the context of visa waivers because it constituted a delegation of the authority of the Department of State over visa waivers to the INS. We find this argument unpersuasive. In the 1991 amendment, the State Department arguably delegated to INS officers its authority to execute the relevant visa waiver. It did not, however, delegate its authority to promulgate regulations regarding such waivers. Nothing about the 1991 amendment suggests that it did anything more than change the manner in which the visa waivers were granted. On the contrary, in the final rule, published in the Federal Register in 1994, the State Department specifically highlighted the limited authority it was conferring on INS: Furthermore, the Department wishes to clarify the limited extent of the authority delegated to the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Although the proposed rule permits the District Director to waive the documentary requirements of INA 212(a)(7)(B), the Department of State will continue to exercise the authority vested in the Secretary of State and the Attorney General under the provisions of INA 212(d)(4)(A) relating to the joint concurrence in documentary waivers, except in the circumstances described in § 41.2(j) of this final rule. Consequently, this final rule makes minor modifications to the text of the regulation as discussed in the preamble. Visas: Documentation of Nonimmigrants Under the Immigration and Nationality Act; Waiver by Secretary of State and Attorney General of Passport and/or Visa Requirements for Certain Categories of Nonimmigrants, 59 Fed. Reg. 1473 (Jan. 11, 1994) (to be codified at 22 C.F.R. pt. 41) (emphasis added). The amendment gives no indication that it was meant to constitute a delegation by the State Department to the INS of the entirety of its regulatory authority over visa waivers; instead it limited the delegation of its authority to a case-by-case determination made by an officer at the point of entry. The State Department, furthermore, has done nothing to suggest that it agrees with the INS on this point. When the State Department amended its own visa waiver regulation in 1999, it exercised its authority in this area, and it made no reference to having delegated that authority to the INS. Without some evidence that a delegation of the sort asserted by the INS was intended by the State Department, we are extremely wary of finding that such a delegation occurred. Second, the INS claims that if the INS and State Department regulations in this area conflict, the INS regulation should control because the INS has primary authority over the administration of the visa waiver regulation. This argument is inconsistent with the joint action requirement expressly imposed by Congress. In effect, the INS is claiming that when it wishes, it is free to displace the State Department's authority entirely. The statute, however, requires joint action, and the two agencies acted jointly when enacting the pre-1996 version of the regulation. The INS's attempt to amend the jointly enacted regulation on its own, therefore, is ineffective, and the pre-1996 version remains in effect. The INS's failure to coordinate with the State Department in the amendment of the regulations renders the 1996 amendment void.