A recent decision, the U.S. Supreme Court has significantly changed how American citizens can respond when their non-citizen spouses are denied visas. The case, known as Department of State v. Muñoz, ended with a 6-3 ruling that affects many international couples.
Indeed this landmark verdict has reshaped family immigration landscape, sparking debate on rights and security.
Some key points of the ruling are:
- Consular Discretion: The decision upholds and potentially broadens the principle of consular nonreviewability, which gives consular officers significant authority in visa decisions.
- Constitutional Rights: The Court determined that U.S. citizens’ constitutional rights do not extend to challenging spousal visa denials.
- Evidentiary Challenges: The ruling limits the ability of U.S. citizens to present additional evidence or expert testimony to refute visa denials.
Story behind the story
Boundless.com reports that at the center of this case are Sandra Muñoz and Luis Asencio-Cordero. Muñoz is a U.S. citizen working as a civil rights attorney in Los Angeles. Her husband, Asencio-Cordero, is from El Salvador. When Asencio-Cordero applied for a visa to join his wife in the United States, he was denied.
The reason for the denial was unexpected. Government officials suspected Asencio-Cordero of having ties to MS-13, a dangerous gang. This suspicion was based mainly on his tattoos, which include images of theater masks, the Virgin of Guadalupe, and a tribal design with a paw print.
Asencio-Cordero said he had no connection to any gang. To support this, an expert on gangs examined his tattoos and agreed they were not related to gang activity. Despite this evidence and the fact that Asencio-Cordero had no criminal record in the U.S., his visa was still denied.
Click here to download the judgment.
SCOTUS-Rules-on-U.S.-Citizens-Right-to-Challenge-Spousal-Visa-Denials
