Immigrant priests, New Jersey diocese sue U.S. State Department over visa delays

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CNA Staff, Aug 16, 2024 / 10:57 am (CNA).

A New Jersey diocese and five immigrant priests are suing the U.S. Department of State over a federal rule they say will soon force the priests to leave the United States for want of immigrant visas. 

The priests from the Diocese of Paterson argue that the government’s reorganization of the visa process last year will require them to return to their own countries and then subject them to lengthy delays when reapplying for visas to serve in the U.S.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court last week, argues that a March 2023 revision to U.S. immigrant visa law represented a “misinterpretation and misapplication” of federal regulations, one that has “directly harmed and will continue to irreparably harm” the priests who filed the complaint. 

The revision, which was enacted on May 1, 2023, reclassified immigrant EB-4 visa distribution for the countries of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, the lawsuit says.

The rule change incorporated those countries into the broader pool of applicants, resulting in “significant retrogression of visa availability” for immigrants not from those countries. 

The priests in the suit are from Colombia and the Philippines; they reside in both Passaic and Morris counties in New Jersey and serve a variety of administrative and pastoral roles in the Paterson Diocese. 

The rule change will force the clergymen to “either violate the terms of their nonimmigrant visa or face imminent and abrupt departure from the United States without any knowledge as to when, or even if, [they] will return.”

Remaining unlawfully in the U.S. would require the priests to incur “administrative sanctions that will preclude future qualification for lawful permanent residence in the United States,” the lawsuit says. 

Leaving, on the other hand, would force the clergy to “abandon thousands of Roman Catholics that each [priest] spiritually guides, and wait years, if not decades, outside of the United States before having any ability to seek readmission.”

In publishing the rule, meanwhile, the federal government allegedly “failed to provide the appropriate notice and public comment period for a substantive rule published in the Federal Register” under the federal Administrative Procedures Act (APA). 

The suit asks the court to afford the Paterson Diocese “immediate access to immigration benefits afforded to nonreligious employers.” It further asks the court to block the March 2023 order until it complies with the APA. 

The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment from CNA on Friday. But the department acknowledged to the Bergen Record this week that the rule revisions resulted in “significantly longer worldwide waits” for the visas in question. 

The department told the paper that “only Congress has the ability to address the imbalance between the limited supply of EB-4 visas and the increasing demand.”

“We recognize the importance of religious ministers and workers as well as their U.S. employers who lead faith-based institutions, and we share your concern about the long wait times for EB-4 visas,” the department said.