Saleh v. Blinken

Summary

The Northern District of California denied defendants’ motion to dismiss an action challenging the refusal of a U.S. Embassy consular officer to accept a directly filed Form I-130 petition. The court held that the Foreign Affairs Manual provided a meaningful standard for reviewing the agency’s exercise of discretion under the Administrative Procedure Act and that consular non-reviewability did not categorically apply because no visa application had been denied. The court also held that the U.S. citizen plaintiff plausibly alleged a protected property interest in his own I-130 petition under Ninth Circuit precedent.

Holdings

1. The decision to deny a request to direct-file an I-130 petition was not categorically committed to agency discretion by law because the Foreign Affairs Manual supplied meaningful standards for reviewing whether the agency rationally exercised its discretion in light of exceptional circumstances, including threats to personal safety.
2. Saleh adequately alleged a constitutionally protected property interest in the adjudication and approval of his own I-130 petition, even though his daughter had no constitutional right to immigrate and Saleh did not have a liberty interest in his daughter being admitted to the United States.
3. Consular non-reviewability did not bar plaintiffs' claims because the challenged action was not a denial of a visa application; it was a denial of Saleh's request to direct-file his own I-130 petition with the Embassy.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the consular officer's denial of Saleh's request to direct-file an I-130 petition was committed to agency discretion by law and therefore categorically unreviewable under the Administrative Procedure Act.
2. Whether Saleh alleged a constitutionally protected property interest in his own I-130 petition sufficient to support a due process claim.
3. Whether the doctrine of consular non-reviewability barred claims challenging the denial of a request to direct-file an I-130 petition rather than a denial of a visa application.

Disposition

other