Case Name: Martha Octavia KOEGEL, Petitioner, v. Eric H. HOLDER, Jr., Attorney General, Respondent
Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Jurisdiction: United States
Decision Date: 2013-06-07
Citations: 522 F. App'x 378
Docket Number: No. 08-74973
Parties: Martha Octavia KOEGEL, Petitioner, v. Eric H. HOLDER, Jr., Attorney General, Respondent.
Judges: Before: THOMAS, SILVERMAN, and FISHER, Circuit Judges.
Reporter: West's Federal Appendix
Volume: 522
Pages: 378–378

Head Matter:
Martha Octavia KOEGEL, Petitioner, v. Eric H. HOLDER, Jr., Attorney General, Respondent.
No. 08-74973.
United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.
Argued and Submitted June 4, 2013.
Filed June 7, 2013.
Jan Joseph Bejar, Esquire, Law Offices of Jan Joseph Bejar A Professional Law Corporation, San Diego, CA, for Petitioner.
Wendy Benner-Leon, Esquire, OIL, DOJ-U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, DC, CAS-District Counsel, Esquire, Office of the District Counsel Department of Homeland Security, San Diego, CA, Ronald E. LeFevre, Office of the District Counsel Department of Homeland Security, San Francisco, CA, for Respondent.
Before: THOMAS, SILVERMAN, and FISHER, Circuit Judges.

Opinion:
MEMORANDUM
Petitioner Martha Octavia Koegel seeks review of the BIA's order denying her application for adjustment of status on the basis that she is inadmissible under 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(6)(C)(ii) and granting her voluntary departure. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1252, and now deny the petition for review.
In 1997, Koegel pled guilty to violating 18 U.S.C. § 1542 for falsely representing her place and date of birth on a United States passport application. The conviction for making a false statement does not establish she falsely represented her citizenship "for any purpose or benefit" under 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(6)(C)(ii). Smiley v. United States, 181 F.2d 505, 506 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 340 U.S. 817, 71 S.Ct. 48, 63, 95 L.Ed.2d 601 (1950). However, the record evidence establishes that she signed an oath (item 21) that contained the phrase "since acquiring United States citizenship," falsely represented she was born in Texas, filed a counterfeit Texas birth certificate to support that assertion, and never maintained that she was merely a United States national. We could deny the petition for review on those grounds alone, but the BIA has already resolved a virtually identical case.
In Matter of Olga Barcenas-Barrera, 25 I. & N. Dec. 40 (BIA 2009), the BIA found an alien inadmissible and therefore ineligible for adjustment of status under § 1182(a)(6)(C)(ii), where she had signed the exact same oath at issue here and represented that she was born in Texas. Id. at 42-44. Since that was a reasonable construction of a statutory ambiguity, we must defer to the agency's determination. Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. Natural Res. Def. Council, Inc., 467 U.S. 837, 843-44 & n. 11, 104 S.Ct. 2778, 81 L.Ed.2d 694 (1984). Barcenas-Barrera is squarely on point here, and so we must deny Koegel's petition for review.
DENIED.
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent except as provided by 9th Cir. R. 36-3.