BOUARFA v. MAYORKAS, SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY, ET AL.
No. 23-583
SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
December 10, 2024
604 U. S. ____ (2024)
JACKSON, J.
CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
Syllabus
NOTE: Where it is feasible, a syllabus (headnote) will be released, as is being done in connection with this case, at the time the opinion is issued. The syllabus constitutes no part of the opinion of the Court but has been prepared by the Reporter of Decisions for the convenience of the reader. See United States v. Detroit Timber & Lumber Co., 200 U. S. 321, 337.
SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
Syllabus
BOUARFA v. MAYORKAS, SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY, ET AL.
CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
No. 23-583. Argued October 15, 2024—Decided December 10, 2024
Amina Bouarfa, a U. S. citizen, began the process of obtaining permanent legal residence for Ala‘a Hamayel, her noncitizen spouse, by filing a visa petition with the U. S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Relevant here, USCIS “shall . . . approve” a visa petition if it “determines that the facts stated in the petition are true” and that the noncitizen is the petitioner‘s spouse.
Bouarfa challenged the agency‘s revocation in federal court. The District Court dismissed the suit, holding that
Held: Revocation of an approved visa petition under
(a) Section 1155 is a quintessential grant of discretion: The Secretary “may” revoke a previously approved visa petition “at any time” for what the Secretary deems “good and sufficient cause.” Such a broad grant of authority “fairly exudes deference” to the Secretary and is similar to other statutes held to “‘commi[t]’ a decision ‘to agency discretion.’” Webster v. Doe, 486 U. S. 592, 600. Congress did not impose specific criteria or conditions limiting this authority, nor did it prescribe how or when the Secretary must act. Context reinforces the discretionary nature of
(b) Bouarfa argues that although some revocations are discretionary, the revocation here was not, so
(1) Contrary to Bouarfa‘s argument,
(2) Bouarfa‘s assertion that the Secretary always revokes the agency‘s approval of a visa petition if the agency later makes a sham-marriage determination makes no difference because Congress did not make the availability of judicial review dependent on agency practice. Rather,
created a system in which a sham-marriage determination is subject to judicial review when an agency denies a visa petition but not when the agency revokes a prior approval. That distinction “reflects Congress’ choice to provide reduced procedural protection for discretionary relief.” Patel v. Garland, 596 U. S. 328, 345. Pp. 9-11.
(3) Precedent, likewise, does not mandate Bouarfa‘s interpretation. Unlike the discretionary determination at issue in Patel v. Garland,
75 F. 4th 1157, affirmed.
JACKSON, J., delivered the opinion for a unanimous Court.
Opinion of the Court
NOTICE: This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the United States Reports. Readers are requested to notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Court of the United States, Washington, D. C. 20543, pio@supremecourt.gov, of any typographical or other formal errors.
SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
No. 23-583
AMINA BOUARFA, PETITIONER v. ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS, SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY, ET AL.
[December 10, 2024]
JUSTICE JACKSON delivered the opinion of the Court.
A common feature of our Nation‘s complex system of lawful immigration is mandatory statutory rules paired with discretionary exceptions. Executive Branch agencies implement both. Whether any given agency decision is mandatory or discretionary matters, because Congress has limited judicial review of many discretionary determinations. See
The Secretary points to
that it does.
I
A
The agency decision at issue in this case occurs along the pathway to permanent legal status for a noncitizen spouse of a U. S. citizen. There is no dispute about the steps involved. A U. S. citizen kicks off the process by filing an immigrant visa petition on behalf of her spouse with the U. S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), which exercises authority delegated by the Attorney General and Secretary of Homeland Security.
USCIS‘s decision to approve or deny a visa petition filed on behalf of a noncitizen spouse involves a number of mandatory determinations. For instance, if the agency “determines that the facts stated in the petition are true” and that the noncitizen is the petitioner‘s spouse, it “shall . . . approve
The visa-petition-approval process for noncitizen spouses
of U. S. citizens can also involve certain non-mandatory determinations that Congress has authorized agency officials to make. One such statutory provision is at issue here: It broadly states that the Secretary “may, at any time, for what he deems to be good and sufficient cause, revoke the approval of any petition.”
We took this case to determine whether the Secretary‘s decision under
B
Amina Bouarfa is a U. S. citizen who married Ala‘a Hamayel, a noncitizen and Palestinian national. They have three young children, all of whom are U. S. citizens. A few years after they married, Bouarfa filed a visa petition on Hamayel‘s behalf.
USCIS initially approved the petition. But two years later, the agency sent Bouarfa a Notice of Intent to Revoke its approval. The agency informed Bouarfa that it had uncovered evidence suggesting that, nearly a decade earlier, her husband had entered into a marriage for the purpose of evading immigration laws. According to the agency, during an interrogation, Hamayel‘s ex-wife had stated that her
Bouarfa vigorously denied these characterizations. She pointed out that her husband‘s ex-wife had later recanted her statements, claiming that she had made them under duress. Nonetheless, USCIS concluded that there was “substantial and probative evidence to support a finding that” Hamayel‘s prior marriage “was for the purpose of conveying immigration benefits.” Addendum to Brief for Petitioner 12a. Recognizing that the Secretary was permitted to “revoke the approval of any petition” “for good and sufficient cause,” id., at 9a, the agency decided to revoke approval of the visa petition that Bouarfa had filed on her husband‘s behalf.
Bouarfa appealed that revocation to the Board of Immigration Appeals, which affirmed. The Board explained that USCIS had revoked its approval because it determined that the “visa petition was approved in error” in light of
the Board concluded that the evidence supported USCIS‘S determination that Hamayel had entered into a sham marriage. The fact that such a determination would have prevented the agency from approving the petition in the first instance, the Board found, constituted “good and sufficient cause” for revocation. Id., at 15.
Having struck out before the agency, Bouarfa turned to the courts. She filed an APA action in Federal District Court, arguing that the agency‘s revocation was “‘arbitrary and capricious, an abuse of discretion and not in accordance with law’” because the agency lacked sufficient evidence to support its sham-marriage determination. App. to Pet. for Cert. 25a. The District Court granted the Government‘s motion to dismiss, holding that
In Bouarfa v. Secretary, Dept. of Homeland Security, 75 F. 4th 1157 (2023), the Eleventh Circuit affirmed. It concluded that the text of
We granted certiorari to resolve a question that has split the courts of appeals: Whether federal courts have jurisdiction to review the Secretary‘s revocation of the agency‘s prior approval of a visa petition. 601 U. S. ____ (2024).3
Notes
Bouarfa challenges the Secretary‘s revocation on the assumption that the fact that her husband is not in removal proceedings does not affect the jurisdictional analysis.4
out the other way. See Nouritajer v. Jaddou, 18 F. 4th 85, 88 (CA2 2021); Jilin Pharmaceutical USA, Inc. v. Chertoff, 447 F. 3d 196, 205 (CA3 2006); El-Khader v. Monica, 366 F. 3d 562, 568 (CA7 2004).
II
A
It is clear on the face of
Context reinforces what the text makes plain. Section 1252(a)(2)(B)(ii)‘s neighboring provision,
provisions that address “different form[s] of discretionary relief from removal.” Kucana v. Holder, 558 U. S. 233, 246 (2010). Each of those provisions “contains language indicating that the decision is entrusted to the Attorney General‘s discretion.” Ibid.; see, e.g.,
Indeed, many of the undoubtedly discretionary provisions listed in
That discretion is a two-way street. By granting the Secretary discretion to revoke the agency‘s approval of visa petitions, Congress has also vested the Secretary with discretion to decline to revoke an approval the agency previously gave. So, if the Secretary determines that the agency‘s approval of a visa petition was erroneous, he can revoke that
approval—or he can let the error stand. As a general matter, then, this discretion may work to the benefit of visa-petition beneficiaries, since rather than tying the agency‘s hands by forcing revocation, Congress created “room for mercy.” Patel v. Garland, 596 U. S. 328, 331 (2022).
In any event, when the Secretary opts to revoke a petition that he determines should not have been approved in the first place, the petitioner is not out of options. As the Government concedes, nothing prohibits a citizen from filing another petition on behalf of the same relative. Brief for Respondents 3. Indeed, Bouarfa has already taken advantage of that alternative here. After the Secretary revoked the agency‘s approval of her petition, Bouarfa filed another one. That petition is still pending, and if it is denied due to the agency‘s sham-marriage determination, Bouarfa can seek judicial review of that determination.
B
Bouarfa disputes hardly any of this. She concedes that some revocations are discretionary for purposes of
1
Bouarfa‘s textual argument rests on
sion as directing that “no petition shall be approved or remain approved” if a sham-marriage determination is made.
The problem for Bouarfa‘s argument is that
Turning to context, Bouarfa argues that, because a noncitizen may use an approved visa petition to continue along the path toward lawful permanent residency, Congress implicitly required the agency to continually reassess whether its prior approval was in error. But nothing about the statutory scheme requires the agency to revisit its past decisions. Instead, each stage of the process comes with its own criteria. See, e.g.,
2
With text and context against her, Bouarfa turns to agency practice. She contends that, as a practical matter, the Secretary always revokes the agency‘s approval of a visa petition if the agency later makes a sham-marriage de-
termination. That may be true. At oral argument, the Government was unable to identify a single instance in which the agency declined to revoke its approval after determining that the beneficiary had entered into a sham marriage. Tr. of Oral Arg. 38. But Congress did not make the availability of judicial review dependent on agency practice. Rather,
Nor is it unreasonable, as Bouarfa protests, to suppose that Congress created a system in which a sham-marriage determination is reviewable if it is the reason for the agency‘s denial of a petition, but not if it is the reason for the agency‘s revocation. That distinction “reflects Congress’ choice to provide reduced procedural protection for discretionary relief.” Patel, 596 U. S., at 345. In the interest of finality, Congress vested the Secretary with the discretion to allow the agency‘s mistakes to inure to the benefit of the noncitizen. At the same time, Congress did not want this discretion to open up a new source of litigation. Cf. Guerrero-Lasprilla v. Barr, 589 U. S. 221, 230 (2020) (observing Congress‘s goal of “‘consolidat[ing] judicial review of immigration proceedings into one action’” (quoting INS v. St. Cyr, 533 U. S. 289, 313 (2001))). “[T]he context in which” the agency makes the sham-marriage determination thus “explains the difference in protection afforded.” Patel, 596 U. S., at 345.5
3
Finally, our precedent does not mandate Bouarfa‘s interpretation. In Patel, we held that
Bouarfa also leans on the general “presumption” that administrative action is subject to judicial review. See Guerrero-Lasprilla, 589 U. S., at 229. But that presumption may be overcome by “‘clear and convincing evidence’ of congressional intent to preclude judicial review.” Ibid. (quoting Reno v. Catholic Social Services, Inc., 509 U. S. 43, 64 (1993)). Section 1252(a)(2)(B)(ii)—“which is, after all, a jurisdiction-stripping statute,” Patel, 596 U. S., at 347—clearly expresses Congress‘s desire to preclude judicial re-
view of the Secretary‘s discretionary revocation of an approved visa petition. “Because the statute is clear, we have no reason to resort to the presumption of reviewability.” Ibid.
* * *
In
It is so ordered.
