Antonio Ventura-Escamilla and Rosa Maria Martinez De Ventura v. Immigration and Naturalization Service

We affirm the decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals which ordered Petitioners’ deportation.

Petitioners, Antonio Ventura-Escamilla and his wife, Mrs. Rosa Maria Martinez de Ventura (the Venturas), are Mexican citizens who illegally entered the United States without inspection in March of 1975, settled in Watsonville, California, and have since then resided continuously in this country. On June 8, 1976 their daughter Maria Del Carmen was born. Six months later, in December of 1976, the Venturas attempted to apply for a visa from the American Consulate in Tijuana, Mexico as special immigrants exempt from the requirements of 8 U.S.C. § 1182 (a)(14). They claim that all necessary papers for their visa applications were delivered to a Watsonville Notary, Francis Silliman Associates, around December 15, 1976 and mailed to the U. S. Consulate in Tijuana no later than December 22, 1976.

The American Consulate in Tijuana date-stamped the Venturas’ applications on January 9, 1977. Because they did not meet the requirements for special immigrant status in any category under the immigration laws as amended effective January 1, 1977 the Consul denied their visa applications.

The…