Opinion ID: 737487
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Requirement to Prove Good Moral Character

Text: 6 A decision of this court filed while this appeal was pending precludes Castiglia's argument that war veterans need not prove good character in order to be naturalized. Santamaria-Ames v. INS, 104 F.3d 1127, 1130, (9th Cir. December 31, 1996) (reaffirming that war veterans are not exempt from good moral character requirement of § 1427); see also Jung v. Barber, 184 F.2d 491, 496 (9th Cir.1950) (requiring a war veteran to prove his good moral character at the date of filing his petition for naturalization). 7 Santamaria-Ames and this case are in some respects similar. Both Castiglia and the petitioner in Santamaria-Ames had satisfied the requirements of 8 U.S.C. § 1440 that they serve in the armed forces during qualifying hostilities. Each received an honorable discharge. Each applicant began to accumulate a criminal record upon his discharge. Santamaria-Ames acquired five felonies and a dozen misdemeanors convictions. Castiglia capped his criminal career with a murder. Both applicants, in so far as the records reveal, accumulated crime-free periods of time. In neither case, however, do we know how much of that crime-free time was accounted for by custodial detention. But the cases have one substantial difference. Santamaria-Ames was not convicted of murder. 8 In Santamaria-Ames, we held that the court could not rely solely upon petitioner's criminal history to deny naturalization. We remanded to the district court to give the petitioner an opportunity to prove, if he could, that during the relevant period (the time of his application) he was, and continues to be of good moral character, attached to the principles of the Constitution of the United States and favorably disposed toward the good order and happiness of the United States. 8 C.F.R. § 329.2(d). 9 Castiglia argues that in his case, as in Santamaria-Ames, the INS and the district court relied on criminal history alone to determine that he failed to satisfy the statutory requirement of good moral character at the time of his application. Castiglia claims to be entitled to a remand, so that he too, can prove that at the time of his application he was of good moral character. But for § 1101(f), Castiglia might have a point.