Alfred Minasyan v. Alberto R. Gonzales, Attorney General

Alfred Minasyan, a native of Armenia, petitions for review of a per curiam order of the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”). The BIA affirmed the decision of the immigration judge (“IJ”), denying Mi-nasyan’s applications for withholding of removal and protection under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). The BIA also found that Minasyan had not demonstrated eligibility for derivative citizenship under a now defunct provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act (“INA”), § 321(a)(3), 8 U.S.C. § 1432 (a)(3) (1999), repealed by Pub.L. 106-395, Title I, § 103(a), Oct. 30, 2000, 114 Stat. 1632 . We conclude that Minasyan is a derivative citizen of the United States pursuant to that provision, and is thus not subject to removal as a felon convicted of an aggravated offense.

I.

Minasyan, now twenty-five years old, first entered the United States with his family when he was eight, as a refugee from Armenia. He obtained lawful permanent resident status when he was ten. In October 1993, when he was fourteen, Mina-syan’s parents separated and his mother assumed sole custody of him. In December 1994, his mother became a United States citizen through naturalization.

Shortly after his…