Court Opinion

ID: 9463544
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 23:09:43.745002+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:38:09.901708
License: Public Domain

JAMES M. CARTER, Circuit Judge,
dis-
senting:
The majority appears to have turned the burden of proof around in this case. It is uncontested that at all times prior to the date on which the approval stamp was allegedly placed in the file, the petitioner was an alien in this country on student status. Any alien seeking an adjustment in his status has the burden of proof. 8 C.F.R. § 242.17(d); C. Gordon and H. Rosenfeld, Immigration Law and Procedure, § 7.7f(2) (Rev. ed. 1976). I believe this burden was never met. The judge of the Immigration Service made such a finding in ordering deportation, and I see no reason to disturb and this finding on appeal.
An INS Form 1-181 is merely evidence of admission as a permanent resident. It hardly constitutes conclusive proof that any change in status has occurred. See id., § 6.17a. Although a crossed-out approval stamp appears on this form, it was never signed by any official, as is the standard practice of the Immigration Service. Less than one month after permanent resident status was purportedly granted by this document, petitioner and an agent of the Immigration Service conferred on matters relating to his application for permanent status. This meeting is documented by a memorandum in the file.
Moreover, petitioner never received any notification of being granted permanent resident status — again standard practice of the Immigration Service. Quite to the contrary, petitioner was notified later that his application had been denied. Against all of this, we have only the crossed-out stamp on the 1-181 form, and the unsupported assertion of petitioner that he was told he was granted permanent status.
The invalidation of the approval stamp, like the absence of any signature thereon, cannot be assumed to be a mistake of the Immigration Service. Indeed, this court must presume that they are regular, proper, and legal. See, e. g., Atlas Life Insurance Co. v. N.L.R.B., 295 F.2d 327, 330 (10 Cir. 1961), cert. denied, 369 U.S. 818, 82 S.Ct. 830, 7 L.Ed.2d 785 (1962). As such, they are entitled,to their logical inference — that no change in alien status was made. To my mind, the scanty evidence offered by the petitioner neither overcomes this inference nor satisfies his burden of proof.
I would AFFIRM.'