The U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously on Dec. 10 that federal courts may not review the federal government’s decision to revoke an immigration visa.
The court’s 9–0 opinion in Bouarfa v. Mayorkas was written by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. The respondent is U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
In the case, the DHS revoked a Palestinian man’s visa after it found he previously attempted to pass off another one of his marriages as legitimate to obtain permanent resident status. Because the government determined he engaged in fraud before, the current marriage was deemed fraudulent, and his visa, which had been approved, was canceled.
The petitioner, Amina Bouarfa, a U.S. citizen, married noncitizen Ala’a Hamayel. They produced three children, all of whom are U.S. citizens, according to Bouarfa’s petition to the Supreme Court.
Around three years after they married, Bouarfa filed an immigration petition to classify her husband as an immediate relative, which would make him eligible for adjustment to permanent resident status.
In 2015, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), an agency of the DHS, approved the wife’s petition, but in 2017 it moved to revoke its approval, citing evidence Hamayel’s first marriage was fraudulent. The