In a precedential decision interpreting the false claim of citizenship ground of inadmissibility, INA § 212(a)(6)(C)(ii)(I), the Ninth Circuit held that such a claim made to police officers during a criminal arrest does not trigger inadmissibility. Ramírez Muñoz v Garland, --- F. 4th ---, 2023 WL 4168884 (9th Cir. 2023). In reaching its conclusion, the Ninth Circuit rejected the Board’s broad interpretation of this inadmissibility ground and instead found persuasive the Third Circuit’s reasoning in an earlier, precedential decision. Castro v. Att’y Gen., 671 F.3d 356, 370 (3d Cir. 2012). The Ninth Circuit concluded that Congress’s intent in creating this ground of inadmissibility was to prevent individuals from obtaining a legal benefit reserved for citizens, such as employment or certain public benefits. However, Congress did not intend the inadmissibility ground to apply in a case such as this one where a noncitizen falsely claims citizenship to minimize the risk that the police would report an arrest to DHS. Ultimately, the Ninth Circuit concluded that minimizing the risk of removal proceedings is not, in itself, a legal benefit under federal or state law.
Mr. Ramírez Muñoz is a native and citizen of Mexico who was admitted to the United States in 1997 and remained here since that time. A few years after arriving in the United States, Mr. Ramírez acquired a U.S. birth certificate belonging to David Arthur Vargas, which he used to...
The lawsuit alleges the CCRB’s online database, 50-a.org, unfairly harms officers by listing serious accusations including sexual misconduct, racial profiling and making false official statements ...