Background
Congress created NM-1 status through the Northern Mariana Islands Long-Term Legal Residents Relief Act for certain long-term residents of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. The statute authorizes the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Attorney General to adjudicate applications, while providing that no court has jurisdiction to review any decision on such an application or other action implementing the program.
Sukesh Chandra Barman applied to USCIS for NM-1 status in 2020. USCIS’s Guam Field Office denied the application, finding that Barman had not continuously and lawfully resided in the Commonwealth from November 28, 2009, through June 25, 2019. After USCIS denied reconsideration, Barman sued for a declaration that he met the eligibility criteria and an injunction requiring approval. The district court dismissed for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction.
The Court’s Holding
The Ninth Circuit affirmed. It held that 48 U.S.C. § 1806(e)(6)(D) bars judicial review of USCIS decisions denying NM-1 status, even though the provision refers to decisions of the Secretary of Homeland Security or the Attorney General rather than USCIS by name.
USCIS acted under authority validly delegated by the Secretary, and a delegate’s decision is functionally a decision of the delegator. Congress enacted the review bar against the backdrop of the Secretary’s longstanding delegation of immigration-benefit adjudications to USCIS. The court also found support in cases applying a similar immigration review bar to USCIS decisions and concluded that the presumption favoring reviewability did not apply because the statute was clear.
Key Takeaways
- A USCIS NM-1 denial is a decision of the Secretary of Homeland Security for purposes of § 1806(e)(6)(D).
- The NM-1 statute strips federal courts of jurisdiction to review those denials.
- Delegation to USCIS does not preserve judicial review where Congress barred review of the Secretary’s decisions.
Why It Matters
The decision closes a proposed route to district-court review of NM-1 eligibility determinations made by USCIS. For NM-1 applicants, the statutory jurisdictional bar applies even when the operative decision is issued by USCIS rather than personally by the Secretary.