Opinion ID: 203695
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Nadal-Ginard's Alienage and the BIA's Jurisdiction

Text: Nadal-Ginard's first argument to us is that the government failed to establish his alienage during the administrative proceedings, and therefore the BIA lacked jurisdiction. His attack is two-fold: he argues that the BIA erred as a matter of law in holding that the DHS did not bear the burden of establishing that he is an alien, and that the evidence in the record showing alienage is insufficient to establish his present alienage. We disagree.
As to the burden of establishing alienage, Nadal-Ginard concedes that, if his alienage had been established, he would have borne the burden of proving his admissibility to the United States. He argues, however, that the BIA erred by expecting him to shoulder that burden without first requiring reliable evidence of alienage from the government. On the contrary, the BIA properly treated Nadal-Ginard as an arriving alien and made no error of law in exerting jurisdiction over him. All persons attempting to enter the United States must apply in person to an immigration officer at a port-of-entry. 8 C.F.R. § 1235.1(a). A person claiming U.S. citizenship must establish that fact to the examining officer's satisfaction, and if such person fails to satisfy the examining immigration officer that he or she is a U.S. citizen, he or she shall thereafter be inspected as an alien. 8 C.F.R. § 1235.1(b). And, as the BIA properly noted, an alien who is an applicant for admission has the burden of establishing that he is clearly and beyond doubt entitled to be admitted and is not inadmissible under section [212 of the INA]. 8 U.S.C. § 1229a(c)(2)(A); see also 8 C.F.R. § 1240.8(b) (an arriving alien must prove that he or she is clearly and beyond a doubt entitled to be admitted to the United States and is not inadmissible as charged). Moreover, even though an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence is not normally regarded as seeking admission into the United States for purposes of the immigration laws, 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(13)(C), an exception to that rule exists for an alien who, like Nadal-Ginard, has committed multiple crimes involving moral turpitude (other than purely political offenses) for which the aggregate sentences to confinement were five years or more. Under such circumstances, that alien must be regarded as seeking admission and deemed inadmissible. 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(13)(C)(v) (An alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence in the United States shall not be regarded as seeking an admission into the United States for purposes of the immigration laws unless the alien ... has committed an offense identified in section 1182(a)(2) of this title....); 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(2)(A)(B) (listing categories of aliens who are inadmissible, including those who have been convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude (other than a purely political offense) after the age of eighteen where the maximum possible penalty exceeded one year's imprisonment, and those who have been convicted of two or more offenses (other than purely political offenses), regardless of whether the offenses involved moral turpitude, for which the aggregate sentences to confinement were five years or more); see also De Vega v. Gonzales, 503 F.3d 45, 47-48 (1st Cir.2007) (denying a lawful permanent resident's petition for review where the petitioner had been charged as an arriving alien and found inadmissible based on a prior conviction for a crime involving moral turpitude). It is undisputed that when Nadal-Ginard applied for admission to the United States, he presented a foreign passport and his greencard, and that he did not otherwise claim United States citizenship. That this application did not satisfy the examining officer of Nadal-Ginard's U.S. citizenshipif that is what the documents were intended to dois unsurprising: nothing about a foreign passport and a greencard could alert an examining officer to a person's U.S. citizenship, or even to a claim of citizenship. Moreover, and as discussed in further detail below, the passport and greencard were introduced as evidence of alienage at the removal hearing and were never rebutted with reliable contradicting evidence. These documents, which both the BIA and the IJ relied upon as evidence of alienage, were undoubtedly enough to make out the adequate prima facie case of alienage referred to in our case law. See, e.g., Navia-Duran v. INS, 568 F.2d 803, 811 (1977); Sint v. INS, 500 F.2d 120, 123-24 (1st Cir.1974) (Campbell, J., concurring). Accordingly, the BIA made no error of law when it concluded that Nadal-Ginard was a lawful permanent resident who, because of his prior convictions, was properly treated as an arriving alien bearing the burden of proving admissibility.
Nadal-Ginard's alternative argument attacks the documents the BIA relied upon in reaching its alienage conclusion, specifically, his passport, greencard, and customs declaration. In particular, he argues that the photocopies of his passport and his customs declaration card were not translated into English, and that the photocopies of his passport and greencard are largely illegible. These arguments are unpersuasive. The greencard, combined with Nadal-Ginard's prior convictions, provided compelling evidence supporting the DHS's decision to inspect him as an alien for purposes of admissibility. This is especially so given that the record contains no other claim of citizenship. While it is true that the BIA did not explicitly rely on the greencard as evidence of alienage in its decision, [t]he law is pellucid that `each piece of evidence need not be discussed in a decision,' Pulisir, 524 F.3d at 310 ( quoting Morales v. INS, 208 F.3d 323, 328 (1st Cir.2000)), and the BIA's opinion is clear in recognizing his status as a lawful permanent resident, evidence of which was his greencard. Additionally, the passport, which Nadal-Ginard acknowledges to be foreign and which was explicitly mentioned in the BIA's decision, provided further evidence of Nadal-Ginard's alienage. It is true that foreign language documents are normally required to be accompanied by an English translation, 8 C.F.R. § 1003.33, and that illegible documents are often useless. In this case, however, the fact that the relevant evidence was not translated or entirely legible did not preclude it from the IJ's or BIA's consideration under the circumstances. The evidentiary significance of each document was facially apparent to the adjudicators, and there was no question as to the authenticity of the documents: the greencard bore Nadal-Ginard's name and photograph, and there was no direct evidence offered to show that his status had changed; similarly, the passport bore Nadal-Ginard's name and photograph, and was clearly and admittedly not issued by the United States. See United States v. Diaz, 519 F.3d 56, 64 (1st Cir.2008) (no plain error in a criminal case where untranslated foreign language documents, including a passport, were admitted under the Federal Rules of Evidence because the evidentiary significance was facially apparent); Toure v. Ashcroft, 400 F.3d 44, 48 (1st Cir.2005) ([T]he Federal Rules of Evidence do not apply in INS proceedings, rather, `the less rigid constraints of due process impose outer limits based on considerations of fairness and reliability.') ( quoting Yongo v. INS, 355 F.3d 27, 30 (1st Cir.2004)). The BIA therefore did not err in considering the government's evidence of alienage. [4] As to the sufficiency of that evidence, although the government has not explicitly argued the point, we are doubtful of our jurisdiction to consider the evidence of alienage in this case, as Nadal-Ginard's prior convictions appear to bring him within the ambit of the jurisdiction-stripping provisions of 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(2)(C). In any event, we note that at no point did Nadal-Ginard offer the IJ or BIA any evidence capable of casting a reasonable doubt upon the examining officer's decision to inspect him as an alien, or upon the government's evidence. Moreover, evidence Nadal-Ginard adduced during his administrative hearings tended to support the examining officer's actions and the government's evidence of alienage. Specifically, his marriage license lists his place of birth as Arta, Spain, and we have held that an individual born abroad is presumed to be an alien and bears the burden of rebutting that presumption by a fair preponderance of the evidence. Leal Santos v. Mukasey, 516 F.3d 1, 4 (1st Cir.2008). The record offers no support for the conclusion that Nadal-Ginard carried that burden. [5] We therefore have no basis to upset the BIA's factual finding that Nadal-Ginard was an alien for purposes of his removal hearings. See 8 U.S.C. § 1252(b)(4)(B) (administrative findings of fact are conclusive unless any reasonable adjudicator would be compelled to conclude to the contrary).