Miguel Romo-Jimenez v. Eric Holder, Jr.

MEMORANDUM

Miguel Angel Romo-Jimenez, on November 30, 2011, petitioned for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals decision denying derivative citizenship through his mother, Mafia Jimenez, a naturalized citizen. On August 27, 2013, we transferred the case to the United States District Court for an evidentiary hearing to determine who had legal custody of Romo-Jimenez while he was incarcerated as a minor with the California Youth Authority. On November 6, 2014, the district court adopted the magistrate’s determination that Romo-Jimenez “was removed from his mother’s custody and control by [] August 29, 1995,” and, “[ujnder California law, she no longer had legal custody of [Romo-Jimenez] while he was incarcerated in the California Youth Authority.”

While the parties dispute what standard of review we should accord the district court’s determination, under either standard — de novo or clearly erroneous— Romo-Jimenez has failed to establish eligibility for derivative citizenship.

The statutory language relevant in this case, 8 U.S.C. § 1432 (a), states that “[a] child born outside of the United States of alien parents ... becomes a citizen of the United States upon ... [t]he…