Derivative Beneficiaries of a Visa Petition

De Osorio: Status of “aged-out” Child Aliens Who Are Derivative Beneficiaries of a Visa Petition in 2013 (Continuation)

United States views on international law [1] in relation to De Osorio: Status of “aged-out” Child Aliens Who Are Derivative Beneficiaries of a Visa Petition: Finally, the legislative history of the CSPA does not support the view that Section 1153(h)(3) unambiguously applies in this case. The legislative history is of limited usefulness here; Congress did not specifically discuss Section 1153(h)(3), and the relevant history primarily consists of floor debate, which is weak evidence of congressional intent. Nevertheless, nothing in that debate suggests that Congress intended to create the striking disruption that the Ninth Circuit's reading of Section 1153(h)(3) would require. Rather, the debate suggests that Section 1153(h)(3), which was not directed at the administrative-delay problem on which Congress was focused, was intended to work only a limited change—one that modestly expanded the scope of an existing regulatory provision. For all of these reasons, the Board's narrower interpretation of Section 1153(h)(3) is a reasonable one. And while the Ninth Circuit did not reach the question of whether the Board's interpretation of Section 1153(h)(3) is entitled to Chevron deference, such deference is appropriate. The Board applied its expertise to the whole statutory and regulatory scheme at issue, and chose a reading of Section 1153(h)(3) that works seamlessly with related provisions while also giving full force to the automatic-conversion language that Congress enacted. In addition, the Board made a sensible policy choice not to interpret Section 1153(h)(3) to grant special priority status to independent adults at the expense of the aliens already patiently waiting in the visa line that those adults would join.

Resources

Notes

1. De Osorio: Status of “aged-out” Child Aliens Who Are Derivative Beneficiaries of a Visa Petition in the Digest of United States Practice in International Law