Court Opinion

ID: 9426031
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:16:32.716709+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:22:58.721842
License: Public Domain

Mr. Justice Brennan,
with whom Mr. Justice Marshall joins,
dissenting.
In INS v. Errico, 385 U. S. 214 (1966), respondent evaded quota restrictions by falsely claiming to be a skilled mechanic. Once in this country, he became the parent of a United States citizen. We found Errico’s deportation barred by § 241 (f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 66 Stat. 163, as added, 75 Stat. 655, 8 U. S. C. § 1251 (f). In the instant case, petitioners evaded quota restrictions by falsely claiming United *632States citizenship. After settling here, they too became parents of United States citizens. Yet the Court today finds that § 241 (f) is no bar to their deportation. Because I find no material difference between the instant case and Errico, I dissent.
Section 241 (f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act provides:
“The provisions of this section relating to the deportation of aliens within the United States on the ground that they were excludable at the time of entry as aliens who have sought to procure, or have procured visas or other documentation, or entry into the United States by fraud or misrepresentation shall not apply to an alien otherwise admissible at the time of entry who is the spouse, parent, or a child of a United States citizen or of an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence.”
In Errico, supra, after a full review of the statute and its legislative history, the Court concluded that § 241 (f) was intended “not to require that aliens who are close relatives of United States citizens have complied with quota restrictions to escape deportation for their fraud . . . .” 385 U. S., at 223. This conclusion was necessary “to give meaning to the statute in the light of its humanitarian purpose of preventing the breaking up' of families composed in part at least of American citizens . . . .” Id., at 225.
Thus Errico governs the instant case. The Court, however, distinguishes Errico on the ground that there deportation proceedings were based on § 211 (a) (4) of the Act, 8 U. S. C. §1181 (a)(4) (1964 ed.), which dealt with quota requirements, whereas here deportation is based on §241 (a)(2), which deals with inspection requirements. This distinction is grounded on the argu*633ment that § 241 (f) tracks §212 (a) (19), 8 U. S. C. § 1182 (a)(19), which deals with excludable aliens, and Errico was such an alien. But petitioners in the instant case were also excludable under § 212 (a) (19), since they sought “to enter the United States, by fraud.” Indeed the Court’s entire approach was explicitly rejected in Errico itself:
“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.’ 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 (/) 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.’ ” 385 U. S., at 217 (emphasis added; footnote omitted).
Even if statutory language is unclear any doubt should be resolved in favor of the alien since “deportation is a drastic measure and at times the equivalent of banishment or exile.” Fong Haw Tan v. Phelan, 333 U. S. 6, 10 (1948). See also Barber v. Gonzales, 347 U. S. 637, *634642-643 (1954); Errico, supra, at 225. Today the Court strains to construe statutory language against the alien.
The INS contends that if petitioners were to succeed in this case, “the sky would fall in on the Immigration and Naturalization Service.” 1 Apart from the lack of credible support for this dire prediction,2 if the *635Immigration and Nationality Act is indeed unworkable, the remedy is for Congress to amend it, not for this Court to distort its language and the cases construing it.

 Tr. of Oral Arg. 44.

 The INS contends:
“An alien who enters as an immigrant submits himself to the investigations required for the issuance of an immigration visa, and to the supplementary inspection at the port of entry. Records of these investigations are available when a claim of eligibility for waiver under Section 241 (f) is subsequently made. They provide the Immigration Service with a substantial basis for determining later, when the waiver is sought, whether the alien was ‘otherwise admissible at the time of entry’ and thus entitled to the waiver.
“In contrast, there is no contemporaneous investigation of an alien who enters on a false claim of citizenship; there is unlikely even to be any record of such entry. It would therefore be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to determine whether such an alien was ‘otherwise admissible at the time of entry.’ ” Brief for Respondent 10-11.
This argument, however, overrates the effectiveness of the immigrant visa system. The Fifth and the Ninth Circuits, in decisions conflicting with the opinion below, have found that the visa system provides no basis for the distinction the Government urges: “Almost invariably, by the time that the relief provision of 241 (f) is invoked, the integrity of the immigrant visa system has been long violated. Section 241 (f) deals with the problem after the breach has occurred. . . .
“. . . For example, when the alien misrepresents his identity during the visa issuing process, the information elicited from him is often valueless. When the fraud is discovered, the information derived from the visa process which was tainted by the misrepresentation, may be useless or have little or no bearing upon the ultimate disposition of the case.” Lee Fook Chuey v. INS, 439 F. 2d 244, 250-251 (CA9 1970).
“Lies concerning identity, occupation, and country of origin may well render the initial immigration investigation either as worthless as no investigation at all, or as difficult and fruitless as a later *635§ 241 (f) inquiry.” Gonzalez de Moreno v. INS, 492 F. 2d 532, 537 (CA5 1974).
As the Ninth Circuit held, the very essence of Errico was that “[w]hen §241 (f) is invoked, the immigration processing system has already proved ineffective. Congress made the wholly reasonable choice that the interest in family unity outweighs the deterrent effects of a more draconian policy.” Lee Fook Chuey, supra, at 251.