Filed: Sep. 04, 2007
Latest Update: Feb. 21, 2020
Summary: false claim of citizenship in his passport application.1, Specifically, Jackson filed an application for adjustment of, status under 8 U.S.C. § 1255 and a waiver of inadmissibility under, 8 U.S.C. § 1182(h), (i), in aid of a grant of permanent resident, status.parents were U.S. citizens.
Not for Publication in West's Federal Reporter
United States Court of Appeals
For the First Circuit
No. 06-1398
BILLY SAMUEL JACKSON-OMIER,
Petitioner,
v.
ALBERTO GONZALES, ATTORNEY GENERAL,
Respondent.
ON PETITION FOR REVIEW OF AN ORDER
OF THE BOARD OF IMMIGRATION APPEALS
Before
Boudin, Chief Judge,
Selya, Senior Circuit Judge
and Lipez, Circuit Judge.
Jorge Guttlein and Associates on brief for petitioner.
Brianne Whelan, Department of Justice, Civil Division, Office
of Immigration Litigation, Peter D. Keisler, Assistant Attorney
General, Civil Division, and James A. Hunolt, Senior Litigation
Counsel, Office of Immigration Litigation, on brief for respondent.
September 4, 2007
Per Curiam. Billy Samuel Jackson-Omier, a national of
Costa Rica, entered the United States on December 23, 1996, and
stayed beyond the time permitted by his visa. On May 14, 2001,
Jackson submitted an application for a U.S. passport, on which he
falsely indicated that he was born in the Panama Canal Zone and
that his parents were United States citizens, which taken in
combination would have made him a U.S. citizen. 8 U.S.C. § 1403(a)
(2000).
Jackson was subsequently convicted by guilty plea of
passport fraud, 18 U.S.C. § 1542 (2000), and sentenced to
probation. At the same time, the Immigration and Naturalization
Service began proceedings to remove him based inter alia on his
false claim of citizenship in his passport application. 8 U.S.C.
§ 1227(a)(3)(D)(i). Jackson thereafter sought relief based on his
marriage in 2002 to a U.S. citizen and the later birth of their
son.1
On November 1, 2004, removal proceedings were held before
an immigration judge ("IJ"). The IJ ordered Jackson removed to
Costa Rica. 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(1)(B), (a)(2)(A)(i), (a)(3)(D).
The IJ also ruled that Jackson's applications for waiver of
1
Specifically, Jackson filed an application for adjustment of
status under 8 U.S.C. § 1255 and a waiver of inadmissibility under
8 U.S.C. § 1182(h), (i), in aid of a grant of permanent resident
status.
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inadmissibility and adjustment of status were precluded by
Jackson's false passport application. 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(6)(C).
In February 2006, the Board of Immigration Appeals
affirmed without opinion, and Jackson now petitions for review.
Effectively, we review the IJ's decision, Gao v. Gonzales,
467 F.3d
33, 37 (1st Cir. 2006), which is amply supported. Indeed, none of
Jackson's arguments warrants more than brief comment.
First, Jackson says that he never claimed that his
parents were U.S. citizens. His passport application shows that he
checked the box next to the name of each parent saying "yes" to the
question whether they were U.S. citizens. This is enough.
Second, he says that he did not falsely represent himself
as a U.S. citizen because he failed to submit the requisite proof
--i.e., his parents' birth certificates--needed to obtain the
passport. But the application itself amounted to a fraudulent
claim of U.S. citizenship and neither the deportation or waiver
provisions requires more than the fraudulent claim of citizenship
to secure a passport. 8 U.S.C. §§ 1182(a)(6)(C)(ii),
1227(a)(3)(D)(i).
Third, citing Conteh v. Gonzales,
461 F.3d 45 (1st Cir.
2006), cert. denied,
127 S. Ct. 3003 (2007), Jackson says that the
IJ erred in reviewing the passport application and should instead
have confined herself to a review of the conviction and charging
documents. Conteh was concerned with whether an alien may be
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removed for an aggravated felony conviction.
Id. at 49-50. Here,
Jackson was removable because of a fraudulent claim of citizenship,
regardless of conviction, 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(3)(D)(i), and the IJ
was free to consider whether the application itself was fraudulent.
Compare
Conteh, 461 F.3d at 56.
The petition for review is denied.
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