MATTI

Citations

• 19 I. & N. Dec. 43

Syllabus

MATTI, 19 I&N Dec. 43 (BIA 1984) ID 2960 (PDF) (1) The Board of Immigration Appeals denied an application for a waiver of deportation undersection 241(f)(1) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. Sec. 1251(f)(1)(1982), on the ground of statutory ineligibility as well as in the exercise of administrative discretion, concluding that an alien who is excludable under section 212(a)(19) of the Act, 8 U.S.C. Sec. 1182(a)(19)(1982), for having entered the United States with an immigrant visa predicated upon a marriage fraud may not rely upon that fraud in order to obtain a waiver of deportation as a spouse of a United States citizen. (2) In its decision, the Board of Immigration Appeals relied, in part, upon the legislative history of section 241(f) of the Act which reflects that the congressional intent was a humanitarian desire to unite families and preserve family ties by forestalling deportation where it would break up families composed, in part, of United States citizens or lawful permanent residents, and thus concluded that a marriage entered into solely for the purpose of obtaining immigration benefits was not a family tie which Congress intended to preserve under the statute.