Background
Diego Fernando Echiverri Mancilla, a Colombian citizen, filed an amended complaint challenging the denial of his Form I-140 petition for Alien Worker status. He argued the government failed to adequately explain why he did not meet the three-part test established in Matter of Dhanasar. The district court dismissed the complaint with prejudice, applying precedent that bars judicial review of discretionary immigration decisions.
The court’s reasoning
The court held that section twelve hundred fifty-two subsection a two B of the Immigration and Nationality Act strips federal courts of jurisdiction to review decisions made discretionary by legislation. The court found that the petitioner’s challenge to the application of the Dhanasar test was a substantive challenge to the discretionary decision, not a procedural error claim that would allow review. Because the district court lacked subject-matter jurisdiction, it could not enter a judgment on the merits, necessitating a dismissal without prejudice.
What it means going forward
Immigration petitioners cannot seek judicial review of discretionary denials of National Interest Waivers by arguing the agency failed to apply the Dhanasar test correctly. However, petitioners dismissed for lack of jurisdiction may refile their complaints without prejudice.