Zizi v. Bausman

306 F. Supp. 3d 697
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedJanuary 29, 2018
DocketCIVIL ACTION No. 17–1976
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 306 F. Supp. 3d 697 (Zizi v. Bausman) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Zizi v. Bausman, 306 F. Supp. 3d 697 (E.D. Pa. 2018).

Opinion

I. Failure to Disclose Information

The first argument that Mr. Zizi makes is that the agency failed to disclose necessary information, which violates 8 C.F.R. § 103.2(b)(16) and various agency procedures. He makes this argument in two respects. First, he claims that the record here is incomplete. Second, he claims that he was not given full access to the record to defend his appeal.

A. Incomplete Record

Mr. Zizi first claims that the administrative record is incomplete. In support, he points to redactions in the record, then to the USCIS director's reliance on interviews that were not recorded. Mr. Zizi asserts that this must mean that the decision is arbitrary and capricious because the record analyzed by the agency was incomplete. Neither of his arguments have merit.

1. Redactions

Mr. Zizi first argues that there are redactions that indicate an incomplete record. Mr. Zizi does not point to any law that prohibits such redactions, but simply maintains that the extent of the redactions means that the agency has not reviewed the full record. Given that the agency must articulate a "rational connection between the facts found and the choice made" State Farm , 463 U.S. at 43, 103 S.Ct. 2856, Mr. Zizi argues that an incomplete record means that the agency's decision must be arbitrary and capricious.

*704The Court disagrees. The redactions complained of are minimal. They consist mostly of names, addresses, policy numbers and contact information redacted by the United States Attorney's Office to comply with federal and local rules regarding identifiers. Nothing would indicate that these redactions reveal any important information, nor do plaintiffs point to any reason why these redactions matter. They baldly assert that they are integral to defending the denial of the petition. The Court fails to see how these would aid anyone in the defense of the petition, nor how these redactions prejudice Mr. Zizi in any meaningful way. Moreover, this information is more than enough to pass the arbitrary and capricious standard. See Section IV, infra.

2. Interview Procedures

Mr. Zizi next claims that the USCIS investigators failed to record and transcribe interviews with witnesses. Instead, the interviews were summarized in "post-hoc investigative documents" such as memoranda from investigating officers. Pl. Br. at 11. Mr. Zizi's argument here does not rest on the adequacy of the evidence.4 He never claims here that the failure to follow these procedures means that "the evidence not only supports a contrary conclusion but compels it." Abdille , 242 F.3d at 483-84. Rather, he rests his argument on the fact that the summarized interviews violate separate legally-cognizable rights. In support, Mr. Zizi points to the USCIS Adjudicator's Field Manual (AFM), which outlines parameters for recording interviews. Mr. Zizi also cites to the Executive Office of Immigration Review (EOIR) which requires videotaped interviews to be transcribed. He argues that these two facts lead to the conclusion that an agency cannot take interviews into account unless they are videotaped and transcribed.

Although "the AFM is instructive as to proper agency practice, it does not hold authority over this Court." Jessop v. Johnson , 2017 WL 2957820 at *4 n.7 (E.D. Pa. July 10, 2017) ; see also Lawrence v. City of Phila. , 527 F.3d 299, 316 n.6 (3d Cir. 2008) ("[A]gency manuals ... lack the force of law"). Similarly, the EOIR regulations (requiring transcription of interviews as a clerical matter, not as an evidentiary matter) are inapplicable to the Board. Therefore, this argument fails to satisfy the requirement that the agency action is not "in accordance with law." 5 U.S.C. § 706(2)(A).

B. Withholding of Derogatory Information

Mr. Zizi's next argument is that he was denied access to important information. He focuses here on Ms. Crozier's admission that the marriage was a sham, claiming that the actual statement she made had indicia of unreliability such that he should have been shown the actual handwritten statement, not just a summary. Mr. Zizi is correct that the petitioner must be shown "[d]erogatory information unknown" to him. 8 C.F.R. § 103.2(b)(16)(i). But Mr. Zizi does not allege that he was denied notice of this derogatory information-only that he was given summaries of the information rather than the actual statements. Mr. Zizi claims that he must be given the primary documents.

The Court disagrees. The regulation at issue merely requires that the government disclose the "derogatory information" unknown to Mr. Zizi. The regulation does not require the government to turn over the evidence in its primary form. A summary therefore suffices to meet the requirement *705under the regulation. See , e.g. , Sehgal v. Lynch , 813 F.3d 1025, 1031(7th Cir. 2016) (a USCIS summary of the information is sufficient to meet the regulation's requirement).

This Court joins the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in questioning why the government does not simply turn over the information in its primary form to allow applicants the ability to contest the information more concretely. A more free exchange of information between the government and applicants would not only decrease the risk of erroneous deprivations, but it would also decrease litigation costs like this. However, the government is under no obligation to do so. The government complied with the regulation when it supplied Mr. Zizi with a summary of the information. Mr. Zizi even presented information to counteract it, including affidavits from Ms. Crozier recanting the damning testimony. Ultimately, the Board found this unavailing and denied the petition. Therefore, Mr. Zizi's claim here similarly fails.

II. Due Process Violation

Mr.

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Bluebook (online)
306 F. Supp. 3d 697, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/zizi-v-bausman-paed-2018.