United States v. Teng Jiao Zhou – 9th Circuit upholds denaturalization of a citizen 20 years after the fact

On March 7, 2016, the Ninth Circuit upheld the denaturalization of a United States Citizen 20 years after he was granted citizenship.  I cannot state strongly enough how important it is to have counsel when applying for naturalization.  The U.S. government routinely deports people who apply for naturalization when they discover a fact that they missed earlier on.  In this case, it took 20 years, but the U.S. Govermnet found its mistake, and fixed it.

In this case, the defendant emigrated from China in 1985, and applied for naturalization in 1993. In 1994, defendant was found guilty of Robbery of the First Degree and False Imprisonment with Violence or Menace. On March 31, 1994, defendant took his oath of allegiance and became a naturalized U.S. citizen. Nearly 20 years later, the government filed a complaint to revoke defendant’s naturalization. The district court granted the government’s motion on the pleadings based on 8 U.S.C. 1101(f)(3) (for having committed crimes involving moral turpitude during the statutory period); and (2) the “catch-all” provision of 8 U.S.C. 1101(f), as promulgated in 8 C.F.R. 316.10(b)(3)(iii) (for having committed unlawful acts that adversely reflect on one’s moral character during the statutory period). The court concluded that the district court did not err in holding that defendant could not establish good moral character under section 1101(f) and 8 C.F.R. 316.10(b)(3)(iii). Therefore, the district court was required to enter a judgment of denaturalization. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment.

You can read the full decision here: http://cases.justia.com/federal/appellate-courts/ca9/14-55027/14-55027-2016-03-07.pdf?ts=1457373707