Petition for review; Whether petitioner, a U.S. citizen, could be deported for lying on his citizenship application under 8 USC § 1227(a)(2)(E)(i); Whether the statute covers individuals who were “citizens” at the time of their conviction; Loper Bright Enters v Raimondo; Costello v United States

The court granted petitioner-Gonzales’s petition for review of an order of removal because his criminal “conviction” for child abuse occurred after he had attained citizenship; therefore, his failure to disclose his indictment when applying for citizenship did not subject him to removal as “an alien” who was “convicted” of child abuse at any time after being admitted into the United States. Gonzales legally entered the United States and was granted citizenship, failing to disclose that he had recently been indicted for sexually abusing his niece. After he became a citizen, he pled guilty to that charge. The government eventually revoked his citizenship because of his lie and tried to deport him under § 1227(a)(2)(E)(i), which provides for deportation when “‘[a]ny alien who at any time after admission is convicted of a crime of . . . child abuse.’” However, he moved for cancellation of removal arguing that “when the conviction occurred,” he was a “citizen,” not an “alien.” The court relied on the Supreme Court’s decision in Loper Bright, which held that the statute does not cover individuals who were citizens at the time they were convicted. The court reviewed prior precedent, such as Costello, where they considered a similar statute for moral turpitude. It also reviewed decisions from several of its sister circuits where they supported this outcome. Applying “the rule of lenity to alleviate the ambiguity,” the court granted the petition for review, vacated the removal order, and remanded for further proceedings.