Citizenship – Making a False Claim to U.S. Citizenship is Always a Mistake But Not Always a Removable Offense
I have written posts before on the problems one can get into by making a false claim to U.S. citizenship which (in addition to being a felony crime) can create all sorts of immigration issues, sometimes years later. Making a false claim to U.S. citizenship for “any purpose or benefit” under any Act or any state or federal law is grounds for removability. The key issue is whether the false claim was made in order to obtain some kind of legal benefit—if not, then it’s not grounds for removability.
On October 27, 2008, the Board of Immigration Appeals held that a temporary permanent resident of the United States who made a false claim to U.S. citizenship on an ATF form to obtain a firearm was not removable. The BIA noted that the respondent had the right to apply for and obtain a firearm as a temporary permanent resident—he didn’t need to be or need to claim to be a U.S. citizen to get a firearm permit. Therefore, his false claim to citizenship was inconsequential to the benefit he was trying to obtain and therefore it was not a removable offense.
Despite the good result for this particular respondent, making a false claim to U.S. citizenship is still a crime and is almost certainly going to create problems when a non-citizen applies for some immigration benefit later on. Noncitizens have to be extremely careful (and truthful) in filing out any form or application that call for them to make a representation about their legal status.
