Tomasello v. Rogers

306 F. Supp. 705, 1969 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8818
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedDecember 5, 1969
DocketNo. 69 Civ. 4505
StatusPublished

This text of 306 F. Supp. 705 (Tomasello v. Rogers) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Tomasello v. Rogers, 306 F. Supp. 705, 1969 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8818 (S.D.N.Y. 1969).

Opinion

OPINION

EDELSTEIN, District Judge.

This is an action which challenges the administration of the system of allocation of immigrant visas provided for in section 203 of the Immigration and Nationality Act [Act], 8 U.S.C. § 1153 (1964), as amended (Supp. IV, 1969).1 The plaintiff is an alien who is a native and citizen of Italy and the defendants Rogers and Farrell are respectively the Secretary of State and the Commissioner of the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service [Service]. This matter is before the court on a motion for a preliminary injunction.

The plaintiff entered this country at New York City on September 10, 1968, as a transit without visa,2 and as such was authorized to remain within this country for two days. Instead of departing on September 12, 1968, the plaintiff absconded and sought employment. He was located by immigration officers on September 27, 1968, and on that date the Service issued an order requiring the plaintiff to show cause why he should not be deported for overstaying his authorized time in the United States. A deportation hearing was held on October 3, 1968, and, at that time, the plaintiff, represented by counsel, conceded deportability and waived his right to appeal. The Special Inquiry Officer thereupon found the plaintiff to be deportable and a warrant of deportation was then issued.

Nonetheless, the plaintiff continued to remain in the United States due to the introduction of a private bill into the Senate, S.4110, in behalf of the plaintiff and seven other aliens. This bill provided for the lawful admission of the plaintiff into the United States for permanent residence. The Service stayed plaintiff’s deportation pending consideration of the bill. However, this bill subsequently received adverse treatment and the plaintiff was then directed to [707]*707surrender on October 16, 1969, for immediate deportation.

Plaintiff commenced the instant action on October 14, 1969, and simultaneously moved for a preliminary injunction staying his deportation until the outcome of this suit. It is this motion for preliminary relief which is now before the court3 and pending its disposition the plaintiff remains at large by agreement between the parties. The issues are as follows:

The Immigration and Nationality Act was amended in 1965, Pub.L. No. 89-236, 79 Stat. 911, so as to repeal the national origin quota system and substitute in its place a worldwide immigration allocation for areas outside the Western Hemisphere of 170,000 immigrant visas annually. Under the new system the visas are to be distributed on a first-come first-served basis without regard to place of birth, except that no more than 20,000 visas can be granted to nationals of any one foreign state in any one year.4 Section 203 of the Act, 8 U.S.C. § 1153 (1964), as amended (Supp. IV, 1969), provides that this worldwide allotment of 170,000 visas is to be distributed to applicants in varying percentages on the basis of seven preferences. These seven preferences, in summary, are: (1) unmarried sons or daughters of citizens of the United States — 20 percent of the 170,000; (2) spouses, unmarried sons or unmarried daughters of aliens lawfully admitted for permanent residence — 20 percent of the 170,000 plus any unused portion of the first preference; (3) members of the professions or immigrants with exceptional ability in the sciences or arts who will benefit the national economy— 10 percent of the 170,000; (4) married sons or married daughters of citizens of the United States — TO percent of the 170.000 plus the unused portions of the first three preferences; (5) brothers or sisters of citizens of the United States —24 percent of the 170,000 plus the unused portions of the first four preferences; (6) “* * * qualified immigrants who are capable of performing specified skilled or unskilled labor, not of a temporary or seasonal nature, for which a shortage of employable and willing persons exists in the United States,” —10 percent of the 170,000; and, (7) refugees — six percent of the 170,000. The priority of applicants in each of the first six preferences is determined by the date on which their petitions for preference status are filed with the Attorney General. Any visa numbers that remain unused in a single year by applicants with preference status are allotted to qualified nonpreference immigrants in the chronological order in which they qualify.

After entering the United States, the plaintiff, on June 5, 1969, became the beneficiary of an approved petition for a preference under the sixth enumerated category. However, a visa number was then not available to plaintiff because, under the interpretation of the Act made by the Secretary of State, the Service permitted all of the maximum of 20.000 visas available to Italian nationals in any one year to be exhausted by those applicants who qualified for one of the first five preferences described above. The plaintiff alleges as his first cause of action that administration of the Act in this manner, which effectively denies to him the possibility of ob[708]*708taining a visa, is contrary to the meaning and purpose of the 1965 amendment and is therefore invalid. In addition, as a second cause of action, the plaintiff alleges that the defendants have wilfully colluded in this improper administrative policy in order to deny to aliens of Italian ancestry the rights and privileges allegedly accorded to them and that the defendants have “acted in such manner as to hamper and harass and discriminate against aliens of Italian origin in obtaining permanent residence in the United States.” The plaintiff demands that defendant Rogers be directed to allocate visas in accordance with the plaintiff’s view of the proper interpretation of the statute and to publish the allegedly proper quota availability for the sixth priority Italian quota. The plaintiff also demands that defendant Farrell be directed to order his agents to accept and process an application by plaintiff for a change of status pursuant to section 245 of the Act, 8 U.S.C. § 1255 (1964), as amended, (Supp. IV, 1969.)5

A preliminary injunction, of course, is an extraordinary equitable remedy the application for which is addressed to the sound discretion of the court. In order to establish his right to a preliminary injunction a party must demonstrate, among other things, that he will probably succeed in the trial and that, therefore, he will be entitled to the ultimate relief which he seeks. E. g., American Metropolitan Enterprises of New York, Inc. v. Warner Bros. Records, Inc., 389 F.2d 903, 904 (2d Cir.1968); Imperial Chemical Industries Ltd. v. National Distillers & Chemical Corp., 354 F.2d 459, 461, 19 A.L.R.3d 492 (2d Cir.1965); I.T.S. Industria Tessuti Speciali v. Aerfab Corp., 280 F.Supp. 581, 585 (S.D.N.Y.1967). The plaintiff, however, has not made this showing and his application for preliminary injunctive relief accordingly must be denied.

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Bluebook (online)
306 F. Supp. 705, 1969 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8818, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tomasello-v-rogers-nysd-1969.