Tooby's California Post-Conviction Relief for Immigrants

A person who is a U.S. citizen or national may not be deported or subjected to other adverse immigration consequences (unless the citizenship is first revoked or lost[31]).  Deportation of a United States citizen is unconstitutional, no matter what.[32]  

It is critical to ask each client whether s/he is a U.S. citizen or U.S. national.[33]  If you have a client with a name like Michael Jackson who speaks perfect colloquial American English and appears fully Caucasian, he may turn out to be a citizen of Canada who has lived here since he was two years old and who is a Lawful Permanent Resident.  There is absolutely no way to learn of the great immigration jeopardy he is in without asking him his immigration status.

            Common documentation of U.S. citizenship includes a birth certificate establishing that the client was born in the United States (or a listed possession); a United States passport, a U.S. Certificate of Citizenship, Form N-560 or N-561; a U.S. Certificate of Naturalization, Form N-550 or N-570, and a U.S. Citizen Identification Card, Form I-179.  For suggestions concerning proof of citizenship, see N. Tooby & J. Rollin, Criminal Defense of Immigrants § 15.4(B) (2007).

[31] See § 3.20, infra.

[32] Trop v. Dulles, 356 U.S. 86 (1957) (deportation of a United States citizen violates the Eighth Amendment); Ng Fung Ho v. White, 259 U.S. 276 (1922); Fierro v. INS, 66 F.Supp.2d 229, 231 (D. Mass. 1999) (“The INS has no discretion to execute removal orders against United States citizens.”).

[33] See § 3.18, infra.