Hong Kong Entertainment (Overseas) Investment, Ltd. v. United States Citizenship and Immigration Service

District Court, Northern Mariana Islands·Decided October 1, 2017·No. 1:16-cv-00009·Unknown

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT OCT 01 2017 FOR THE NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS for the Northern Mariana Islands By________________________ (Deputy Clerk) HONG KONG ENTERTAINMENT Case No. 1:16-CV-00009 (OVERSEAS) INVESTMENTS LTD., doing business as Tinian Dynasty Hotel and Casino, DECISION AND ORDER GRANTING Plaintiff, MOTION TO DISMISS FOR LACK OF JURISDICTION v.

IMMIGRATION SERVICES, ELAINE DUKE, in her official capacity as Acting Secretary of the United States Department of Homeland Security, and JAMES MCCAMENT, in his official capacity as Acting Director, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services,1

Defendants.

I. INTRODUCTION Before the Court is Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss Plaintiff’s First Amended Complaint Under Rules of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6). (Oct. 14, 2016, ECF No. 13.) The motion has been fully briefed and was heard on January 19, 2017. Having considered all the briefs, declarations and exhibits submitted by the parties,2 as well the oral arguments of counsel, the Court now GRANTS the motion for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and dismisses the case with prejudice. 1 As official-capacity defendants, Elaine Duke has been automatically substituted for Jeh Johnson, and James McCament has been automatically substituted for Leon Rodriguez, under Rule 25(d) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. 2 These include: Memorandum in Support of Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss (ECF No. 14); Declaration of Stephanie Chau (ECF No. 14-1); Declaration of Counsel Opposing Motion to Dismiss of Lack of Jurisdiction (ECF No. 19) and Errata to ¶ 32 (ECF No. 20 and 20-1); Exhibits 1 and 2 (attached to First Amended Petition for Judicial Review, ECF No. 7) and 3 through 8 (attached to ECF No. 19); Plaintiff’s Memorandum Opposing Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Subject Matter Jurisdiction and Failure to State a Claim (ECF No. 21); Defendants’ Reply (ECF No. 22) and Exhibit A (Second Declaration of Stephanie Chau, ECF No. 22-1). Plaintiff Hong Kong Entertainment (Overseas) Investments, Ltd. (“HKE”) does business in the CNMI as the Tinian Dynasty Hotel and Casino. (First Amended Petition (“FAP”) ¶ 3, ECF No. 7.) It relies heavily on foreign workers to operate the hotel and casino. (FAP ¶ 16.) In 2014, it

applied to United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) for permission to hire foreign workers under the CNMI-Only Transitional Worker (“CW-1”) visa classification system and timely submitted I-129CW extension petitions and an I-129CW transfer petition. (FAP ¶¶ 15, 18.). By letters dated in December 2014 and February and April 2015, USCIS, through its California Service Center, denied all of HKE’s petitions, primarily on the grounds that HKE was not engaged in a legitimate business. (FAP ¶¶ 19–21.) Federal regulations require that to be eligible to petition for a CW-1 nonimmigrant worker, an employer must be “engaged in legitimate business.” 8 C.F.R. § 214.2(w)(4)(i). A business is not considered legitimate “if it engages directly or indirectly in prostitution, trafficking in minors, or any other activity that is illegal under Federal or CNMI law.” 8 C.F.R. § 214.2(w)(1)(vi). HKE appealed (FAP ¶ 22), and in a series of decisions

rendered February 1–3, 2016, the USCIS Administrative Appeals Office affirmed the denials (FAP ¶¶ 23–25). In all, 151 denials were affirmed upon appeal. (See Ex. 1, List of Denied Appeals, ECF No. 7-1.) It found that HKE had willfully violated the reporting provisions of the Bank Secrecy Act and therefore concluded that it had “engaged in activities that are illegal under federal law.” (Ex. 7-2, Non-Precedent Decision of the Administrative Appeals Office 4, Feb. 3, 2016, ECF No. 7-2.) The denials affected more than three-quarters of HKE’s employees. (FAP ¶ 30.) On March 7, 2016, HKE petitioned this Court for judicial review of administrative action under 5 U.S.C. § 702. (Petition for Judicial Review, ECF No. 1.) In response to a Rule 12(b) motion to dismiss by Defendants (Sept. 12, 2016, ECF No. 6), HKE timely filed a First Amended Petition for Judicial Review. (Sept. 21, 2016, ECF No. 7.) In the FAP, HKE asserts that the USCIS’s final agency action has “stigmatized HKE by branding it as an illegitimate business (FAP ¶ 35), and that this action has deprived HKE, a U.S. citizen, of its right to due process of law and contravenes Congress’s intent in passing the Consolidate Natural Resources Act of 2008

(“CNRA”), which authorized the Secretary of Homeland Security and other agencies to implement a transition program from CNMI control of immigration to federal control under the Immigration and National Act. See Pub. L. 110-229 (May 8, 2008), title VII, sec. 702, codified at 48 U.S.C. § 1806(a). Specifically, the Secretary is empowered to “establish, administer, and enforce a system for allocating and determining the number, terms, and conditions of permits to be issued to prospective employers” for each nonimmigrant worker. 48 U.S.C. §1806(d)(2). HKE claims that the denial of its petitions was arbitrary and capricious (First Claim for Relief ¶¶ 42–44); that it was wrongly deprived of notice and an opportunity to be heard as to USCIS’s determination to rely on ongoing criminal proceedings against HKE in finding that HKE was not a legitimate business (Second Claim for Relief ¶¶ 45–54); that the regulations lack guidance and standards for

determining whether a business is legitimate (Third Claim for Relief ¶¶ 55–60); and that USCIS’s stigmatization of HKE infringes on its liberty interest as protected by the Fifth Amendment (Fourth Claim for Relief ¶¶ 61–70). Defendants responded by moving to dismiss the FAP for lack of subject matter jurisdiction (Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(1)) and failure to state a claim (Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6)), and it is that motion which is now before the Court. Under Rule 12(b)(1) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, a defendant may seek to dismiss a complaint for lack of jurisdiction over the subject matter. The federal court is one of limited jurisdiction. See Gould v. Mut. Life Ins. Co. v. New York, 790 F.2d 769, 774 (9th Cir. 1986). As such, it cannot reach the merits of any dispute until it confirms its own subject matter jurisdiction. See Steel Co. v. Citizens for a Better Env’t, 523 U.S. 83, 95 (1998). When considering a Rule 12(b)(1) motion to dismiss, the district court is free to hear evidence regarding jurisdiction

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Hong Kong Entertainment (Overseas) Investment, Ltd. v. United States Citizenship and Immigration Service, (nmid 2017).

Hong Kong Entertainment (Overseas) Investment, Ltd. v. United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (Hong Kong Entertainment (Overseas) Investment, Ltd. v. United States Citizenship and Immigration Service) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related