Immigration Alert – June 26, 2013
Supreme Court Grants Government’s Petition for Certiorari in CSPA Class Action – Cuellar de Osorio v. Mayorkas (and Costelo v. USCIS), No. 12-930 (S.Ct. cert. pet. granted June 24, 2013)
On June 24, 2013, the Supreme Court agreed to review the Ninth Circuit’s en banc decision in the consolidated cases Cuellar de Osorio v. Mayorkas and Costelo v. USCIS, 695 F.3d 1003 (9th Cir. 2012). These cases, the latter of which is a nationwide class action, challenge the government’s interpretation of a section of the Child Status Protection Act (CSPA) which provides alternate benefits to aged-out derivative beneficiaries. INA § 203(h)(3). The Ninth Circuit rejected the BIA’s restrictive interpretation in Matter of Wang, 25 I&N Dec. 28 (BIA 2009), and instead held that derivative beneficiaries of all visa petition categories, not simply the Family 2A category, were entitled to the alternate benefits found in INA § 203(h)(3). The parties will brief the merits of the case to the Supreme Court over the next four months, and the Court will hear oral argument, most likely in early 2014.