Uscis

MEMORANDUM

Defendants United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and its Director appeal the judgment of the district court following a trial in favor of Jamal Atalla, M.D., in his action brought under 8 U.S.C. § 1421 (c), seeking a hearing de novo on the USCIS’ denial for lack of good moral character of his naturalization application. The district court found that Atalla had not given false testimony or given false testimony with the subjective intent to obtain an immigration benefit, as USCIS claimed, and found, instead, that Atalla had proved the requisite good moral character and granted his petition for naturalization. In light of the highly deferential standard we show to the district court’s findings of fact, we affirm.

On appeal, USCIS advances two arguments. (1) The district court clearly erred in determining that Atalla did not provide false testimony for the purpose of obtaining an immigration benefit during his three naturalization interviews, and, (2) The district court committed legal error in precluding as waived the government’s defense that Atalla committed a crime involving moral turpitude (CIMT) by providing false testimony to the government…