Court Opinion

ID: 9475474
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 05:28:18.810363+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:44:44.175305
License: Public Domain

REINHARDT, Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
The majority affirms the decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals deporting Robert Garcia Start from the United States on the ground that he attempted through artifice to bring his wife and children into this country to join him and the rest of his immediate family. Based upon this grave misdeed, Start, a law-abiding person and a design engineer for the B-l bomber, is being deported. Although Courts of Appeal do not have the authority to substitute their judgment for that of the BIA, we do have the responsibility of ensuring that the BIA considers all appropriate factors. Because this court fails to fulfill that responsibility, I dissent.
Start sought relief from deportation under 8 U.S.C. § 1251(f). The “original intent of the section was simply to waive relatively minor grounds for deportation — those arising out of misrepresentations in arranging entry — for aliens with a close family relative who was a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident.” House Report to the Immigration and Nationality Act Amendments of 1981, H.Rep. No. 264, 97th Cong., 1st Sess. 25 (1981), reprinted in 1981 U.S.Code, Cong. & Ad.News 2577, 2594. The section was specifically designed to apply to the type of deception engaged in by Start — and at issue here. It was also specifically designed to apply to persons like Start whose immediate family, including his father, mother, three brothers, and two sisters are all United States citizens or permanent residents.1
This section was amended by Pub.L. No. 97-116, effective December 29, 1981, which modified the previously mandatory waiver of deportability for violation of 8 U.S.C. §§ 1251(a)(1) and 1182(a)(19) (visa fraud or misrepresentation) and expanded its scope. The amendment gave the BIA discretionary authority over the broadened subject matter. The purpose of the amendment was two-fold: one, to expand the classes of people for whom the waiver of deportability was available;2 and two, to enable the BIA to settle troublesome legal questions regarding eligibility in an equitable manner.
Prior to the recent amendment, Start would have had an absolute right to remain in this country.3 The intent of Congress in amending the section was not to enable the BIA to deport an individual, like Start, who clearly qualified for relief. Rather, the purpose of the amendment was to alter agency authority at the margins by permitting the BIA to exercise its discretion in cases in which the courts previously were *544required to make fine distinctions.4 Here, however, the BIA used its new-found discretion to cut back on rights clearly afforded to Start by the unamended statute, a result certainly not contemplated by Congress.
There is a serious question as to whether this agency action could be sustained because it is so manifestly contrary to the intent of the Congress. Courts overturn an agency action when that action “rests upon a policy judgment that is so unacceptable as to render the action arbitrary.” A Restatement of Scope-of-Review Doctrine, 35 Ad.L.Rev. 235, 235 (1986) (§ (b)(3)) (prepared by Section of Administrative Law of the ABA). See also Citizens to Preserve Overton Park, Inc. v. Volpe, 401 U.S. 402, 416, 91 S.Ct. 814, 824, 28 L.Ed.2d 136 (1971) (in determining arbitrariness, a court must ask “whether there has been a clear error of judgment.”); Dugan v. Ramsay, 727 F.2d 192, 196 (1st Cir.1984) (Breyer, J.) (“[W]e believe that the agency interpretation here at issue is so totally unreasonable as to be without support in the authorizing statute.”); Conway v. Watt, 717 F.2d 512, 513 (10th Cir. 1983) (agency action “would not be valid if shown to bear no reasonable relation to congressional intentions (as expressed in the Act at issue or in legislative history) ...”). Cf. INS v. Rios-Pineda, 471 U.S. 444, 105 S.Ct. 2098, 2103, 85 L.Ed.2d 452 (1985) (when the BIA exercises discretionary authority it must ground its decision in “legitimate concerns about the administration of the immigration laws”). Any concern expressed by the BIA that is wholly contrary to the intent of Congress cannot be considered to be either legitimate or acceptable.
The majority upholds the BIA’s decision on the ground that the BIA “properly” divided Start’s single misrepresentation into a number of smaller ones, viz. “marrying his wife in the Philippines a second time to allow her and the children to immigrate into the United States, and possibly, marrying his wife for the sole purpose of getting her into the United States.” Ante at 542. The IJ considered Start’s action a “single lapse of moral character.” The reliance by the BIA on artificially segmented components of Start’s “single lapse” may well have been inappropriate, and its decision may be reversible on that ground as well. See, e.g., Siang Ken Wang v. INS, 413 F.2d 286, 287 (9th Cir.1969) (consideration of irrelevant factor is an abuse of discretion). However, even assuming that the BIA’s discretion extends to Start and that Start’s action was not effectively one act — a formalistic division at best — reversal is required because the BIA failed to consider the equities in Start’s favor.
Our obligation as a reviewing court is to set aside agency action when the “agency has relied on factors that may not be taken into account under, or has ignored factors that must be taken into account under, any [governing] source[] of law.” Restatement of Scope-of-Review Doctrine, 35 Ad. L.Rev. at 235 (§ (b)(2)). As we noted in Mattis v. INS, 774 F.2d 965 (9th Cir.1985), “[w]e have consistently required the BIA to state its reasons and show proper consideration of all factors when weighing equities and denying relief.” Id. at 968. We reverse actions of the BIA under section 1251(f) when the Board has abused its discretion. Hernandez-Robledo v. INS, 777 F.2d 536, 540 (9th Cir.1985). Here, the BIA has clearly done so.
Under section 1251(f), the BIA must consider “the reasons that an alien should be allowed to stay, despite the illegality” of *545his entry. Hernandez-Robledo, 777 F.2d at 541. We there noted at least two reasons militating for the exercise of administrative discretion in the alien’s favor: length of stay and stable employment record. Id. Here, the government admitted at oral argument that it was required to consider all of the factors set forth in the decision issued by the BIA in this case. Those factors include not only hardship to family, but also stable employment history, evidence of value and service to the community, rehabilitation if a criminal record exists (and a finding of whether a criminal record exists), and good character. While the BIA certainly has discretion in assigning the relative weight to the factors it need consider, cf. INS v. Wang, 450 U.S. 139, 145, 101 S.Ct. 1027, 1031, 67 L.Ed.2d 123 (1981) (Attorney General has the authority to determine what constitutes “extreme hardship” narrowly), the agency has no authority to refuse to consider relevant factors or to fail to accord the application individualized treatment.
The BIA failed to consider some of the very factors that its own decision in this case states it must. We need look no further than the face of the BIA decision to observe its internal inconsistencies and the patent error committed by the Board.
To begin with, the BIA did not fully discuss Start’s family ties and family relationships. As to employment, it merely stated that Start was employed as a design engineer and earned $33,000 a year. An acknowledgement of current employment by the BIA does not constitute full or adequate consideration of “stable employment history.” Although the record before the Immigration Judge reflects the fact that the petitioner was employed for approximately five years, the BIA did not consider that factor sufficiently important to mention as an equity in Start’s favor. Nor is there any mention by the BIA of Start’s value or service to the community, although he has worked for some time in our national defense effort. Moreover, the BIA makes no mention of the fact that Start has never been arrested for, let alone convicted of, any crime (unlike the petitioner in Hernandez-Robledo) or the fact that Start is of “good moral character,” as the IJ found him to be. In all these respects, the BIA decision violates, beyond any doubt, the rule set forth in Mattis. 774 F.2d at 968.
The BIA appears to have abused its new-found discretion under 8 U.S.C. § 1251(f)(1) in a number of ways. Its decision is contrary to the intent of Congress in amending the statute and thus is neither acceptable nor legitimate. The BIA’s segmentation and reliance on aspects of Start’s visa fraud was improper. Finally, the BIA failed to consider a number of the requisite factors in denying relief under the amended section in violation of Mattis. The BIA’s action is both unreasoned and arbitrary. It should be reversed.

. It should also be noted that Start is currently married to an American citizen and is the father of an American child born to her.

. Contrary to the majority’s assertion that the "purpose of the amendment was neither to expand nor circumscribe the scope of the forgiveness provision", ante at 541, the amendment made relief available both for innocent and fraudulent misrepresentations and for aliens charged with deportability based on violation of § 212(a)(14) of the Act, 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(14). While the former may arguably be said to be merely a clarification, the latter is clearly an expansion.

. The language of the former provision stated: The provisions of this section relating to the deportation of aliens ... on the ground that they were excludable at the time of entry as aliens who have sought to procure, or have procured visas ..., or entry ... 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 ... permanent residen[t],
8 U.S.C. § 1251(f) (1970) (emphasis added).

. The House Report to the Immigration and Nationality Act Amendments of 1981, H.Rep. No. 264, 97th Cong., 1st Sess. 25 (1981), reprinted in 1981 U.S.Code, Cong. & Ad.News 2577 states:
[T]he scope of the waiver and the meaning of “otherwise admissible" have become increasingly unclear. [The Amendment] clarifies that the waiver is only intended to apply to immigrants and that it is available for innocent (as well as fraudulent) misrepresentations. By doing this and making the waiver discretionary, it should obviate the need for further litigation, and promote the uniform administration of this section.
Id. at 2594.