The Supreme Court ruled Friday that U.S. citizens don’t have a fundamental right to have their noncitizen spouses admitted to the U.S.
The case involved Sandra Munoz, a U.S. citizen and civil rights lawyer, whose El Salvadoran husband was denied a visa application without explanation.
Munoz challenged the decision, citing her constitutional right to marry and be reunited with her husband.
However, the Supreme Court ruled that Munoz’s right to marry did not extend to the right to have her non-citizen husband enter and remain in the United States.
The court, in a 6-3 decision, said Munoz cannot challenge the U.S. Department of State’s denial of her El Salvadoran husband’s visa application after the agency waited three years to explain that it suspected him of being a gang member.
Munoz and her husband, Luis Asencio Cordero, whom she married in 2010 and with whom she has a child, have been separated since 2015, according to court filings.
Visa denials are not reviewable in court unless the government violates an applicant’s constitutional rights in the process.
The Supreme Court rejected Munoz’s claim that the delay in explaining the denial violated her due process rights by interfering with her fundamental right to marry.
The couple sought to file a new visa application with evidence they said refuted his alleged membership in the MS-13 gang and wanted assurance that the federal government would review it.
Asencio Cordero’s tattoos depict the comedy and tragedy theater masks, La Virgen de Guadalupe and a tribal design with a paw print. He denies they are gang-related, and a court-approved gang expert agreed.
The government said it denied the visa due to concerns that Asencio Cordero would be likely to engage in unlawful activity if he were allowed back into the U.S.
Muñoz argued the government violated her rights to marriage and due process by failing to provide a timely explanation for her husband’s visa denial.
The couple sued and learned through their lawsuit that the government believed he was an MS-13 member based on his tattoos, an interview and a background check, including “confidential law enforcement information.” Asencio Cordero had no criminal history in the U.S. or in El Salvador.
Her claim “involves more than marriage and more than spousal cohabitation—it includes the right to have her noncitizen husband enter (and remain in) the United States,” Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote for the court.
This ruling has far-reaching implications for individuals seeking to reunite with their non-citizen spouses in the United States.
Nigerians, in particular, will be affected, as many have been known to marry American citizens as the easiest way to acquire the US “Green Card.” and relocate to the United States.
Nigeria has been grappling with soaring food prices since the government withdrew a petrol subsidy and floated the naira currency in a bid to shore up the economy.
Inflation has reached a three-decade high of 31.7 percent, making basic items inaccessible for many Nigerians, most of whom live on less than $2 a day.
High poverty rates, a struggling economy and 33.3 percent unemployment in Nigeria have made the US, Uk and other western countries an expensive destination for thousands to “japa” — a word in the Yoruba language that means “to flee.”
