Vicente Gonzalez-Gomez v. Immigration and Naturalization Service

Vicente Gonzalez-Gomez appeals from a District Court decision that he is not a citizen of the United States and thus is subject to deportation. We reverse.

Appellant was born in Cerano, Mexico, on July 25, 1938. His mother, a United States citizen, was born in Los Angeles County, California, and at the time of appellant’s birth was living in Mexico. Appellant's father was a Mexican citizen. At birth appellant became a United States citizen by the operation of the predecessor statute of 8 U.S.C. § 1401 (a) (7).

Congress has prescribed that such a citizen shall lose his “nationality and citizenship unless he shall come to the United States prior to attaining the age of twenty-three years and shall immediately following any such coming be continuously physically present in the United State [sic] for at least five years. * * *” 8 U.S.C. § 1401 (b). Absences of less than twelve months in the aggregate during the five-year period do not break the continuity of such presence. 8 U.S.C. § 1401 (b). Appellant claimed that he entered the United States in 1955, well before his twenty-third birthday on July 25, 1961, and that he fulfilled the requirement of physical presence in the United…