Tabucbuc

MEMORANDUM *

Joel Tabucbuc petitions for review of an order of removal entered by the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA). Joel was convicted of violating Hawaii’s drug laws, incarcerated, and ordered removed as an alien convicted of a controlled substance aggravated felony. We hold that Joel Tabucbuc is a citizen of the United States and therefore GRANT the petition.

I

Joel Tabucbuc was born in the Philippines in 1969 to Emeterio and Simeona Tabucbuc, who were at that time citizens of the Philippines. Emeterio and Simeona were married in the Philippines in 1956. Joel is the youngest of Emeterio and Simeona’s six children.

Emeterio remarried and immigrated to Hawai’i on September 17, 1968, as the spouse of a United States citizen. On October 23, 1970, the Family Court, First Circuit, of Hawai’i granted Emeterio a final decree of divorce from Simeona and awarded Simeona custody of the six Tabucbuc children. On July 6,1977, Emeterio became a United States citizen through naturalization. Soon thereafter, he filed a petition to bring Joel to the United States as an immediate relative of a United States citizen. Simeona and Emeterio agreed that custody over Joel would be transferred…