Eduardo Solis-Espinoza v. Alberto Gonzales, Attorney General

Eduardo Solis-Espinoza petitions for review of a decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) affirming without opinion a final order of removal to Mexico. Petitioner contends that he is not removable because he is a United States citizen.

Though born in Mexico, Solis-Espinoza claims citizenship by virtue of the U.S. citizenship of the woman he knew as his mother. That woman, who was married to petitioner’s biological father at the time of petitioner’s birth, acknowledged petitioner from his infancy as a member of her family and raised him as his mother, though he did not in fact have a biological connection with that woman. In Scales v. INS, 232 F.3d 1159, 1166 (9th Cir.2000), we previously held that a blood relationship between a child and a U.S. citizen was not required to establish citizenship under 8 U.S.C. § 1401 (g), if the child in question was not born out of wedlock. The primary issue posed in this case is whether Solis-Espinoza was “born out of wedlock,” such that the blood relationship requirement set forth in 8 U.S.C. § 1409 applies to him and bars his claim to citizenship. We conclude that he was not illegitimate or born out of wedlock. He thus qualified for…