Court Opinion

ID: 9633989
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 12:11:05.546488+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:25:43.509216
License: Public Domain

BYE, Circuit Judge,
concurring.
A false claim of citizenship is a ground for the mandatory denial of an application for relief from removal. Despite the clear regulatory language imposing a mere preponderance standard upon an alien who argues a ground for denial of relief should not apply to him, see 8 C.F.R. § 1240.8(d) (“If the evidence indicates that one or more of the grounds for mandatory denial of the application for relief may apply, the alien shall have the burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that such grounds do not apply.”), we hold Paul Kip-kemei Kirong had the higher burden of proving “clearly and beyond doubt” that he did not make a false claim of citizenship. I will not belabor the reasons why I disagree with this conclusion, because we are bound by Rodriguez v. Mukasey, 519 F.3d 773 (8th Cir.2008), issued after this case was submitted to our panel. See Rodriguez, 519 F.3d at 776 (“Rodriguez bore the burden of proving clearly and beyond doubt that he was not inadmissible.”). I concur in denying Kirong’s petition for review because I agree he cannot show clearly and beyond doubt that he did not make a false claim of citizenship when he marked the “citizen or national of the United States” box on Form 1-9.
I write separately for the purpose of urging the government to revise Form 1-9. In Rodriguez, we noted “Form 1-9 is poorly designed in that by checking one box the person ambiguously represents that he is either a citizen or a national.” Id. at 776-77. The ambiguous nature of the “citizen or national” box on Form 1-9 has spawned needless litigation in this circuit as well as others over whether an alien makes a false claim of citizenship by checking the box. See id.; see also Ateka v. Ashcroft, 384 F.3d 954, 957 (8th Cir.2004); Kechkar v. Gonzales, 500 F.3d 1080, 1085 (10th Cir.2007); United States v. Karaouni, 379 F.3d 1139, 1143 (9th Cir.2004). The doubt created by Form I-9’s disjunctive choice between “citizen or national” is exacerbated by the fact that few people know what it means to be a “national” of the United States. Indeed, counsel for the government in this case could not advise our panel on the precise meaning of a “national” of the United States. As a result, some aliens may genuinely, but mistakenly, believe they are nationals of the United States when they complete Form 1-9, only to be subsequently imposed with the onerous burden of proving clearly and beyond doubt that they were not making a false claim of citizenship.
The government offers no reason why the “citizen or national” inquiry on Form 1-9 must be posed as a single disjunctive *807choice, rather than as two separate, standalone questions. Given the dire consequences which face an alien who falsely represents himself to be a citizen, see ante at 803-04 (noting such a claim can result in a permanent bar to entry into the United States), I suggest a simple revision in this widely-used form is more than overdue.