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Monday, July 03, 2006
Reeves: Unmarried Filipino children of naturalized US citizens
By Robert L. Reeves
REEVES and Associates has filed two lawsuits against the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and the State Department, to compel the agencies to re-classify the immigrant visa petitions of unmarried sons and daughters of naturalized US citizens under the Child Status Protection Act (CSPA).
The first lawsuit, Maniago versus Chertoff (Case CV06-3768 MRP, JCx), was filed in the federal district court in Los Angeles last June 15. Judge Mariana R. Pfaelzer, a federal district judge in Los Angeles, presides over the Maniago case. The second lawsuit, Mangoba versus Chertoff, was filed in the federal district court in San Francisco last June 16.
Both lawsuits concern benefits given to unmarried adult sons and daughters of US citizens under the CSPA. Congress enacted CSPA in 2002 to preserve the opportunity for unmarried children of lawful permanent residents or US citizens to join their families in the US, and to eliminate significant delays in issuing immigrant visas to them.
One of CSPA’s provisions allows for unmarried sons and daughters of lawful permanent residents, under section 203(a)(2) of the INA, to be treated as unmarried sons and daughters of US citizens under INA 203(a)(1), if their parents became naturalized citizens.
For unmarried sons and daughters from most countries around the world, being treated as an unmarried son or daughter of a citizen, for immigrant visa purposes, eliminates years of delay in getting an immigrant visa. But, in the case of unmarried Filipino sons and daughters of a citizen, the issuance of an immigrant visa is delayed for up to five years because there are less immigrant visas available for people in that visa category.
Congress tried to resolve that problem in CSPA by allowing unmarried sons and daughters of newly naturalized US citizens to opt out of the conversion of their immigrant visa category, and to be re-classified as unmarried sons and daughters of lawful permanent residents for immigrant visa purposes, as if their parents’ naturalization had never taken place.
However, the federal government has consistently ignored the intent of Congress, and has refused unmarried sons and daughters’ requests to opt out of the conversion of their visa category, because their parents petitioned for them to come to the US while they were under 21 years of age.
In September 2004, Reeves and Associates filed a suit against the federal government, to force federal immigration officials to honor the requests for re-classification of the immigrant visa category for unmarried sons and daughters of newly naturalized US citizens under CSPA.
That suit, Maniago versus Neufeld (Case No. CV 04-7981), was filed in the federal district court in Los Angeles, on behalf of 16 parents who had petitioned for their unmarried sons and daughters to come to the US. Reeves and Associates settled that lawsuit with the federal government, after the federal agency defendants agreed to grant requests for re-classification of the immigrant visa categories for the unmarried sons and daughters of the plaintiffs.
Despite the settlement, however, the agencies that process immigrant visa applications—the DHS and the State Department—have refused numerous requests by unmarried sons and daughters to re-classify their immigrant visa category, and to eliminate years of delay in allowing them to come to the US.
Due to the federal government’s misinterpretation of CSPA’s “opt out” provision, Reeves and Associates filed another suit, to ensure that the federal government abides by the intent of Congress when it processes immigrant visa applications for unmarried sons and daughters of naturalized US.
In the lawsuit, Reeves and Associates charges the federal defendants with misinterpreting CSPA to preclude certain unmarried sons and daughters of citizens from re-classifying their immigrant visa preference category. Reeves and Associates also filed a petition for writ of mandamus, to compel the federal defendants to perform their non-discretionary duty to honor the plaintiffs’ requests for re-classification of their immigrant visa category.
Reeves and Associates also raised a number of claims under the Administrative Procedure Act. By filing suit again, Reeves and Associates hopes to bring into existence a new nationwide policy for re-classification of the immigrant visa categories for unmarried sons and daughters of US citizens, regardless of their ages when their parents petitioned for them to come to this country.
(www.rreeves.com)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (July 3, 2006 issue)
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