Case: 19-41041 Document: 00515597823 Page: 1 Date Filed: 10/12/2020 United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit FILED October 12, 2020 No. 19-41041 Lyle W. Cayce Clerk Fernando Martinez; Leticia Guillen Ontiveros; S.L.G.O., a minor, by and through her mother, Leticia Guillen Ontiveros, Plaintiffs—Appellants, versus Mike Pompeo, Secretary, U.S. Department of State, Defendant—Appellee. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas USDC No. 1:17-CV-238 Before King, Graves, and Oldham, Circuit Judges. Per Curiam: Fernando Martinez says that he is an American citizen and that his wife and stepdaughter are entitled to immigrant visas. The Government disagreed, and it refused to grant a U.S. passport to Martinez or visas to his family. Martinez, his wife, and his stepdaughter challenged these denials in federal court. The district court dismissed the action. We affirm. Case: 19-41041 Document: 00515597823 Page: 2 Date Filed: 10/12/2020 No. 19-41041 I. Martinez has two birth certificates. The first one indicates he was born in Mexico City, Mexico, in April 1965. The second one, registered in June 1965, says he was born in Eagle Pass, Texas. In 2009, Martinez applied for a U.S. passport. After reviewing the conflicting birth certificates, the State Department concluded that Martinez failed to show he was born in the United States. The State Department denied his passport application in 2011. Martinez filed a second passport application. The Government denied it in 2014 for the same reason. Martinez married Leticia Guillen Ontiveros in 2004. Martinez filed with United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) visa petitions for Ontiveros and Ontiveros’s daughter, Sofia. Ontiveros and Sofia also filed for an adjustment of status. These petitions required Martinez to demonstrate that he was a U.S. citizen. Again concluding that he had failed to make that showing, the Government denied the visa petitions in 2013. In 2017, Martinez, Ontiveros, and Sofia filed suit in the Southern District of Texas against a USCIS field office director, the U.S. Secretary of State, and the United States itself. Martinez sought a declaration of United States nationality under 8 U.S.C. § 1503(a). He also brought Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”) challenges against the State Department and USCIS. Ontiveros and Sofia sought review of the visa denials, also under the APA. The APA is a viable cause of action only if “there is no other adequate remedy in a court” for the challenged agency action. 5 U.S.C. § 704. The Government moved to dismiss the APA claims, arguing that the declaration of nationality was an adequate remedy. Plaintiffs did not file a response in opposition to the motion. The district court agreed with the Government and 2 Case: 19-41041 Document: 00515597823 Page: 3 Date Filed: 10/12/2020 No. 19-41041 dismissed the APA claims. Only Martinez’s § 1503 claim against the Secretary of State remained. Last year, while litigation in this case continued in the district court, our court issued its decision in Gonzalez v. Limon, 926 F.3d 186 (5th Cir. 2019). In ...
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