On January 29, 1985, the Bricklayers' union and a local affiliate brought suit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, challenging Immigration and Naturalization Service internal agency guidelines which permitted issuance of B-1 "temporary visitor for business" visas to foreign laborers coming to United States temporarily to work. Plaintiffs alleged that the issuance of visas to foreign laborers under the authority of INS Operations Instruction 214.2(b)(5), an INS internal agency guideline, violated the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. §§ 1101-1524 and the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. §§ 551-559, 701-706. The suit stemmed from the government issuing B-1 "temporary visitor for business" visa petitions to ten West Germans so that they could work to install a new gold ore processing system in California.

The parties filed cross-motions for summary judgment. The District Court (Judge Legge) entered judgment in favor of plaintiffs, finding that the challenged guideline violated Immigration and Nationality Act. The Court issued an injunction prohibiting INS from issuing such visas and made the order retroactive. International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftsmen v. Meese, 616 F.Supp. 1387 (N.D.Cal. Aug. 28, 1985).

Note that prior to filing the case in federal court in California, plaintiffs had filed a separate identical case in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. That case was dismissed by the District Court for lack of jurisdiction, lack of standing, and mootness. The dismissal was reversed on appeal. International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftsmen v. Meese, 761 F.2d 798 (D.C.C. 1985).

Dan Dalton - 11/13/2007


compress summary