Background
Jose Alberto Vazquez Macias, a Mexican national born in 1981, petitioned for review of a Board of Immigration Appeals order dismissing his appeal from an Immigration Judge’s removal order. Vazquez claimed he derived United States citizenship from his mother, Yolana Macias Mendiola, who became a naturalized citizen in 1996. The case turned on whether his parents had undergone a legal separation before he turned eighteen, as required by former Section one thousand four hundred thirty-two of Title eight of the United States Code. A 1996 court order from Tijuana, Mexico, authorized his mother to handle immigration procedures and noted that his father had abandoned the family for approximately nine years.
The court’s reasoning
The court exercised de novo review and held that Vazquez derived citizenship. Under former Section one thousand four hundred thirty-two, the only issue was whether there was a legal separation of the parents. The court determined that abandonment under Baja California law constitutes a legal separation because it terminates the marital partnership and its benefits unless reinstated by express agreement. The Tijuana Court Order satisfied the requirement for court-ordered recognition of the breakup of the marriage by acknowledging the father’s abandonment. The court afforded strong deference to the Mexican court’s determination and declined to second-guess its findings. The government’s arguments regarding the lack of specific statutory citations or findings of good cause were rejected as unnecessary under the deference owed to foreign courts.
What it means going forward
The petitioner is no longer subject to removal proceedings because the court found he is a United States citizen. The case was remanded to the lower authorities to reflect this status.
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