Jennifer Serrano v. Elaine Duke


NOT RECOMMENDED FOR FULL-TEXT PUBLICATION File Name: 18a0204n.06 No. 17-1939 UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT JENNIFER LEIGH SERRANO, ) FILED ) Apr 18, 2018 Plaintiff-Appellant, ) DEBORAH S. HUNT, Clerk ) v. ) ON APPEAL FROM THE ) UNITED STATES DISTRICT ELAINE C. DUKE, United States Department of ) COURT FOR THE WESTERN Homeland Security; JAMES MCCAMENT, United ) DISTRICT OF MICHIGAN States Citizenship and Immigration Services, ) ) Defendants-Appellees. ) Before: SILER, ROGERS, and LARSEN, Circuit Judges. LARSEN, Circuit Judge. Plaintiff Jennifer Serrano sought an immigrant visa on behalf of her husband, a Mexican citizen. Her petition was initially granted, but was later revoked when United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) determined that her husband was ineligible for an immigrant visa because he had entered into a previous marriage for the sole purpose of obtaining an immigration benefit. Ms. Serrano challenged the revocation in district court, but the court concluded that it lacked jurisdiction and dismissed the case. We AFFIRM. I. In 1995, less than one month after illegally entering the United States, Jose Eutiquio Serrano Gonzalez (“Mr. Serrano”), a Mexican citizen, married Maria Isabel Rodriguez de Serrano (“Ms. Rodriguez”), a United States citizen. Based on this marriage, USCIS granted Mr. Serrano conditional lawful permanent resident status. But the marriage did not last; the two No. 17-1939, Serrano v. Duke divorced in 1999. Roughly four months after their divorce, Ms. Rodriguez told a USCIS officer that she had married Mr. Serrano only “to help him get his green card. No money was involved. We never lived together as Husband & Wife.” Facing removal from the country, Mr. Serrano asked permission to leave voluntarily. He conceded his removability as an alien who had married for the purpose of obtaining admission as an immigrant, and agreed to leave the United States by June 18, 2001. An immigration judge granted his request. Mr. Serrano did not leave, however, and instead married Jennifer Leigh Serrano (“Serrano”), a United States citizen. About ten years later, United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement removed Mr. Serrano to Mexico, where he remains today. In 2012, Serrano filed an I-130 visa petition on Mr. Serrano’s behalf, seeking immigrant classification as the spouse of a United States citizen. USCIS approved the petition and forwarded it to the National Visa Center for processing. But in 2014, USCIS issued a Notice of Intent to Revoke the petition, informing Serrano that Mr. Serrano was ineligible for immediate relative classification because he had been “involved in a prior marriage entered into for the sole purpose of obtaining an immigration benefit.” USCIS allowed Serrano thirty days to provide rebuttal evidence. Serrano submitted several documents in response, including joint income tax returns, a copy of a Complaint for Divorce, a copy of a Judgment of Divorce, and an affidavit by Mr. Serrano describing his version of the marriage and the circumstances that led to the divorce. Nonetheless, on March 10, 2015, USCIS revoked its approval of the petition, stating that ...

Original document
Source: All recent Immigration Decisions In All the U.S. Courts of Appeals