## Facts

- Maria Hermina Sague, a U.S. citizen, married Marc Joseph Marie Berger, a French citizen, in France in 1971.
- Berger applied for an immigrant visa at a U.S. consulate in France in 1973.
- A U.S. consular officer denied the visa, finding Berger ineligible under INA § 212(a), 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a).
- Plaintiffs alleged the denial interfered with their ability to live as a family and deprived them of constitutional rights.
- Plaintiffs sued the United States and related federal officials under 42 U.S.C. § 1981 et seq., seeking (1) a declaration that the governing immigration provisions were unconstitutional, (2) an order compelling issuance of the immigrant visa, and (3) damages.
- The government moved to dismiss for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction, arguing the suit sought judicial review of a consular visa decision.

## Issues

1. Whether a federal district court has subject-matter jurisdiction to review and effectively overturn a U.S. consular officer’s overseas denial of an immigrant visa through constitutional and civil-rights claims seeking declaratory and injunctive relief.

## Decision

- The court granted the government’s motion to dismiss.
- The court held it lacked subject-matter jurisdiction because the suit, in substance, sought judicial review of a consular officer’s visa denial.
- The court did not reach the merits of the constitutional challenges or the damages request.

## Legal Principles

- Admission and exclusion of aliens is a sovereign function committed to the political branches, closely connected to the Executive’s foreign-affairs authority.
- Under the doctrine of consular nonreviewability, consular officers’ visa determinations made abroad are generally not subject to judicial review absent clear congressional authorization.
- A plaintiff cannot obtain judicial review indirectly by styling a challenge to a visa denial as a constitutional or civil-rights action when the requested relief would require a court to overturn the consular decision or compel visa issuance.
- 42 U.S.C. § 1981 et seq. does not, by itself, supply a jurisdictional basis or authorize reconsideration of an overseas consular visa refusal.

## Conclusion

The court dismissed the action for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction, holding that the doctrine of consular nonreviewability barred federal court review of an immigrant-visa denial issued by a U.S. consular officer abroad, even when plaintiffs framed the challenge as constitutional and civil-rights claims seeking an order to issue the visa.


Sague v. United States, 416 F. Supp. 217 (D.P.R. 1976)