SECTION-633 OF IIRIRA - IMMUNIZING DISCRIMINATION IN IMMIGRANT VISA PROCESSING

Section 633 of the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Respo nsibility Act amended the nondiscrimination provision for immigrant vi sa processing of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965. The 1965 provision provided that no immigrant visa applicant shall be discrimi nated against. Section 633 added that this nondiscrimination provision does not apply to the visa determinations made by the Department of S tare. In this Comment, William Pham criticizes section 633 because it unnecessarily grants the Department of State-the only department that determines visa processing policies-nonreviewable discretion to sec bu rdensome procedures for aspiring immigrants of certain nationalities. In effect, section 633 dilutes the principles of fail-ness and humanen ess that are at the heart of not only the specific nondiscrimination p rovision for visa processing but also the entire United States immigra tion system. This Comment analyzes the likely reasons underlying this grant of unbridled authority and finds them unpersuasive. In the end, it argues for the maintenance of some form of judicial review over the department's visa venue policies.