On June 11, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit vacated a removal order, holding that a naturalized U.S. citizen could not be deported following denaturalization for fraud, where he failed to disclose a recent indictment on his citizenship application, because the conviction occurred after the defendant became a U.S. citizen.
Background
Mr. Gonzalez immigrated to the U.S. in 1981 and became a permanent resident in 1989. Twenty years later, in March 2009, Mr. Gonzalez applied for citizenship, which was granted in October 2009. In June 2009, Mr. Gonzalez was indicted for sexual abuse of a child but was not convicted until after he became a citizen.
The case arose after the government revoked Mr. Gonzalez’s U.S. citizenship, arguing that Mr. Gonzalez had obtained his citizenship by fraud. Specifically, the government claimed that Mr. Gonzalez had committed fraud by failing to disclose on his citizenship application that he had recently been indicted for sexual abuse. After revoking his citizenship, the government next sought to deport Mr. Gonzalez under a statute that permits removal of “[a]ny alien” who is convicted of child abuse. The Sixth Circuit vacated that removal order and held that Mr. Gonzalez was not “an alien” at the time of his conviction and therefore was not removable under this statute.
The Court's Decision
The Sixth Circuit held that the government cannot deport a person under this statute (8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(2)(E)(i)) for a conviction that occurred while the person was a U.S. citizen, even if that citizenship is later revoked. In reaching this conclusion, the court reasoned that the use of the word “alien” in the relevant statute did not apply to Mr. Gonzalez at the time of the conviction because he was a citizen. The court also considered the present-tense phrase “is convicted” which signaled that Congress meant the person must be an alien at the time of the conviction.
Practical Implications
This decision has several implications:
- Individuals whose citizenship is revoked for fraud cannot be deported under criminal grounds of removability for convictions that occurred while they were citizens.
- Defense counsel may be able to seek termination of pending removal proceedings for criminal conduct where the client was already naturalized when the conviction occurred.
- Congress could choose to respond and amend the relevant statutes to allow for the removal of denaturalized persons for offenses committed at any time.
