Helena Hilda Butterfield v. Attorney General of the United States

442 F.2d 874, 143 U.S. App. D.C. 152, 1971 U.S. App. LEXIS 11447
CourtCourt of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
DecidedMarch 10, 1971
Docket23993_1
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 442 F.2d 874 (Helena Hilda Butterfield v. Attorney General of the United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Helena Hilda Butterfield v. Attorney General of the United States, 442 F.2d 874, 143 U.S. App. D.C. 152, 1971 U.S. App. LEXIS 11447 (D.C. Cir. 1971).

Opinion

PER CURIAM:

This is an appeal from a judgment of the District Court upholding the administrative denial of appellant’s application for a visa preference classification under the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. § 1153(a)).

Appellant is a citizen of Great Britain, born in India of British parents. Apparently, her central aim in life has been to organize and operate an international cultural center. Two such attempts were previously made in London and in Rome, both of which were abortive. In 1962, appellant looked to the United States, hoping to find a more favorable financial climate. However, she was unable to gain immigrant’s status because, under the national origins quota system in effect until 1965, she was chargeable to the small and oversubscribed Indian quota rather than to the large and under-subscribed British quota.

Appellant entered the United States on January 8, 1962, on a six-months nonim-migrant visitor’s visa. She over-stayed the visa, and was ordered by the immigration authorities to show cause why she should not be deported. A Special Inquiry Officer, after hearing, found her deportable as charged on March 22, 1963. 1 He granted her application for voluntary departure in lieu of deportation and provided that, in the event she failed to depart voluntarily as directed by the District Director, she would be deported to Great Britain. Appellant did not appeal this determination.

Appellant attempted to obtain relief by way of private legislation in Congress, and the authorities agreed not to compel her departure while she pursued this activity. However, when it became obvious that her efforts would be to no avail, appellant was directed to depart the United *876 States. Yet she failed to leave as directed; and a deportation warrant was issued.

Appellant ignored directions to report at Los Angeles for deportation on November 27, 1964. In December of 1964 she was discovered working for the Australian Embassy in Washington, D. C. Again, appellant attempted to obtain relief through Congress, and the Immigration Service continued to grant appellant extensions of time.

While the pursuit of private legislation again failed, in 1965 Congress passed liberalizing amendments to the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952. The national origins quota was abolished, and Congress established an absolute ceiling of 170,000 persons who could enter this country every year, without regard to nationality (8 U.S.C. § 1151(a)). Congress also prescribed a seven-tier preference system to determine the priorities for the world-wide quota. Two of the preferences were based upon the prospective immigrant’s vocational abilities. The sixth preference (8 U.S.C. § 1153(a) (6)) was designed to allow skilled and unskilled labor into the country to fill positions in which there were shortages. 2 The third preference, however, was designed to attract members of the professions or persons having special talents or education (8 U.S.C. § 1153(a) (3)). 3 The term “profession” included, but was not limited to, “architects, engineers, lawyers, physicians, surgeons, and teachers in elementary or secondary schools, colleges, academies or seminaries.” 8 U.S. C. § 1101(a) (32).

Two qualifications were placed upon those individuals who apply for the sixth preference visa. First, they must be certified by the Secretary of Labor, who is to determine whether a labor shortage exists in the particular occupation that the applicant is seeking to enter, and whether the entrance of the applicant into that area would unduly affect the wages and working conditions of Americans already so employed (8 U.S.C. § 1182(a) (14)). Second, the application for the sixth preference has to be filed by a sponsoring firm or organization rather than the applicant himself (8 U.S. C. § 1154(a)). The latter qualification has been termed the “job offer” requirement. The third preference applicant is subject only to the former qualification.

On January 17, 1966, appellant submitted an application for a third preference visa. She based her application on her intention to operate an “international cultural centre — promoting courses in language, history, literature, musical activities, [and] concerts.” She listed her occupation as “President-Director — Educational and Cultural Organization.” In conjunction with the certification procedure, appellant identified her profession as teaching, and set forth in detail an account of her teaching experience. In further support of the application, appellant attached a transcript of her academic record at the University of Wales, where she received a B.A. degree in 1951. The Department of Labor reviewed the form and returned it to the Immigration Service bearing the Department’s endorsed certification of appellant’s eligibility for a third preference visa.

A hearing was held at the office of the District Director on appellant’s “pending petition to classify preference status on basis of profession or occupation.” While it was appellant’s understanding that she was to be interviewed about her profes *877 sional qualifications, she was in fact interrogated about her various business activities over the fifteen year period preceding her application. The transcript of this hearing has been lost by the immigration officials, and the only existing record of it is a memorandum prepared by one of the three INS officials present at the hearing:

Subject was sworn in and agreed to present testimony concerning her occupation and financial history under oath. She was questioned at great length regarding the operation, financial and otherwise, of her schools in London and Rome and also in regard to the cultural foundation she has operated in the United States. She was also asked about a series of unpaid debts totaling close to $10,000, presently owed by her to many concerns in this country. Subject was evasive, verbose, and vague in regards to most of the questions asked of her. She denied that she was a poor financial manager as is evident from a review of the information contained in the file about her financial operations. She presented * * a series of rationalizations to account for her past failures and blames ill-fortunes, accidents, illnesses, and bureaucratic regulations and delays as the reasons for her constant inability to succeed in her endeavors.
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Related

Nazareno v. Attorney General of the United States
366 F. Supp. 1219 (D.C. Circuit, 1973)

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Bluebook (online)
442 F.2d 874, 143 U.S. App. D.C. 152, 1971 U.S. App. LEXIS 11447, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/helena-hilda-butterfield-v-attorney-general-of-the-united-states-cadc-1971.