Child is ‘guilty’ of parents’ immigration crime

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Recently, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a child must also suffer the consequences of her parent’s immigration fraud or inadmissibility. Although the "child" in that case was already an adult and a US citizen at the time of the court’s ruling, the US government still sought to have her US passport revoked and the child removed/deported, because she did not have a valid immigrant visa.

In that case, the child’s father entered the United States in the 80’s as a visitor. He later became a permanent resident through marriage to a US citizen. The problem was that he claimed that his first wife had died, such that, as a widower, he was able to legally marry the American.

At age 9, the child was able to immigrate to the US through her father. In her immigration application, she also stated that her mother had died in 1985. After the child and her siblings had successfully entered the US and became US citizens, her father divorced his American wife. Miraculously, his "dearly departed" first wife found new life, and was able to enter the US under an assumed name. (In other words, she was never really "dead"). She remarried the child’s father, and he petitioned his first wife for a green card.

The root of all their problems was when the father claimed his first wife was dead, so that he could marry the American. All the while, he knew he was still married to his first wife at the time that he married the American second wife. Instead of taking the proper steps of terminating his first marriage (through annulment or divorce), he took the quick and "easy" way, by claiming she was dead. Unfortunately, however, by law, since the first wife was alive, then his marriage to the American was void as bigamous. Therefore, he obtained his green card and citizenship through fraud. The government went after them, and eventually, the father and mother pled guilty to naturalization fraud, had their citizenship revoked and they were removed/deported.

The government then went after the children, arguing that since they all obtained their green cards and citizenship through their father’s fraudulent immigration status, the children were also not entitled either to their green cards or US citizenship. The "child" (who was by now an adult) argued that because she was a minor at the time she immigrated to the US, she should not be removed/deported, because she did not know of her parent’s fraud and/or inadmissibility, and that she should not be "guilty" of her parents’ immigration crimes.

The court disagreed, and held that a parent’s knowledge of the fraud can be imputed (attribute the fault or responsibility) to the child. Thus, this child was forced to suffer the consequences of her parents’ immigration fraud.

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