Opinion ID: 620820
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Willful Concealment or Misrepresentation of a Material Fact

Text: The government, however, argues that the record supports affirming the district court's grant of summary judgment on alternative grounds: Arango's alleged willful concealment or misrepresentation of a material fact during the naturalization process. The Supreme Court has stated that this ground for denaturalization plainly contains four independent requirements: the naturalized citizen must have misrepresented or concealed some fact, the misrepresentation or concealment must have been willful, the fact must have been material, and the naturalized citizen must have procured citizenship as a result of the misrepresentation or concealment. Kungys v. United States, 485 U.S. 759, 767, 108 S.Ct. 1537, 99 L.Ed.2d 839 (1988). We have previously held that an alien who seeks to obtain immigration status by misrepresenting a material fact has done so willfully if the misrepresentation was deliberate and voluntary. Espinoza-Espinoza v. INS, 554 F.2d 921, 925 (9th Cir.1977). The government argues that Arango willfully misrepresented and concealed the true nature [of] his [prior] `marriage' throughout the naturalization process by (1) not disclosing his sham marriage to the INS agent during his naturalization interview, and (2) listing the sham marriage on his naturalization application, which he signed under penalty of perjury. Arango, however, raised genuine issues of material fact as to whether any alleged concealment and misrepresentations were willful. During Arango's interview with the immigration officer, he asked her whether she had reviewed his immigration file, on the assumption that information regarding his prior admissions to INS would be contained in his file. The immigration officer who conducted Arango's naturalization interview does not contradict Arango's version of the events in her declaration. Instead she relies on her own customary practices. She states that, while she cannot remember Arango's interview, she knows that Arango did not disclose this information about the prior sham marriage, because she is certain that if this information had been disclosed, she would not have permitted his naturalization. Viewing these facts in the light most favorable to Arango, his failure to bring up the topic of his sham marriage, when he reasonably assumed that the immigration officer already knew about it, does not show deliberate or voluntary concealment or misrepresentation. On the naturalization application, Arango indicated that he was married to Vicky Tirado from 1980 to 1984, and he attested to this statement under penalty of perjury. The government argues that this was a material misrepresentation because he was never actually married to Tirado. Even if Arango was not legally married to Tirado during this time period, there are material issues of fact as to whether the misrepresentation was deliberate or voluntary given that Arango's affidavit states that he believed that the INS was aware of the fraudulent nature of this marriage. In fact, if he had failed to mention his marriage to Tirado on his naturalization application, that would be a willful misrepresentation, because the marriage existed, even if it was later deemed fraudulent. Accordingly, we reject the government's argument that the record supports affirming the district court's grant of summary judgment on these alternative grounds.