Steven Kharoufeh v. Eric Holder, Jr.

MEMORANDUM

1. Scope of the Remand

Following our remand, the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) again dismissed Petitioner’s appeal in part on the ground that our prior remand was limited in scope to Petitioner’s claim of citizenship. Because our prior remand was not so limited, but was a general remand, the BIA erred in failing to reach the entirely separate due process claim. Accordingly, we grant the petition in part and remand for further proceedings consistent with this disposition.

II. Citizenship

Petitioner cannot qualify for derivative citizenship under former section 321(a) of the INA because he “was already residing in the United States when his mother naturalized, and was not residing pursuant to a lawful admission for permanent residence,” Romero-Ruiz v. Mukasey, 538 F.3d 1057, 1063 (9th Cir.2008), “either at the time of [his mother’s] naturalization or at some subsequent time while under the age of 18,” id. at 1062 . Therefore, Petitioner’s claim that the BIA erred in holding that he had not obtained derivative citizenship through his mother is denied.

PETITION GRANTED IN PART, DENIED IN PART, AND REMANDED.

This disposition is not appropriate for publication and…