05-4315-ag Azize v. BCIS, et al.
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT
August Term 2009
Heard: August 26, 2009 Decided: February 1, 2010 Docket No. 05-4315-ag
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - WILLIAM AZIZE, Petitioner,
v.
BUREAU OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION SERVICES, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY, and UNITED STATES ATTORNEY GENERAL, Respondents. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - -
Before: JACOBS, Chief Judge, NEWMAN, Circuit Judge, and TRAGER,* District Judge.
Petition for review of an order of the Board of Immigration
Appeals denying an application for cancellation of removal on the
ground that the applicant was improperly denied an opportunity to
complete an application for naturalization.
Remanded for further proceedings to the District Court, from
which a petition for a writ of habeas corpus had been transferred.
Chief Judge Jacobs dissents with a separate opinion.
* Honorable David G. Trager, of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, sitting by designation. Hagit M. Elul, Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP, New York, N.Y., for Petitioner.
F. James Loprest, Jr., Special Asst. U.S. Atty., New York, N.Y. (Lev L. Dassin, Acting U.S. Atty., Sarah S. Normand, Asst. U.S. Atty., New York, N.Y., on the brief), for Respondents.
JON O. NEWMAN, Circuit Judge.
This petition to review an order for removal entered by the Board
of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) presents a novel claim concerning an
allegedly improper denial of naturalization. William Daneris Azize
seeks review of an October 10, 2001, order of the BIA summarily
affirming a September 8, 2000, decision of an Immigration Judge
(“IJ”). The IJ’s decision denied an application for cancellation of
removal and ordered Azize removed to the Dominican Republic. The
removal petition was referred to this Court by the District Court for
the Southern District of New York (Sidney H. Stein, District Judge)
after Azize filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the
District Court.
Azize contends that two applications for his naturalization were
improperly denied in 1987 and 1989. He seeks relief from the removal
order or, alternatively, nunc pro tunc determination of his
applications for naturalization. The Government has commendably
informed this Court that “it does not oppose [P]etitioner’s request
for a remand to the district court of the petition to the extent that
-2- it relates to Azize’s claim for equitable relief pertaining to his
naturalization applications . . . should the Court deem such a remand
appropriate.” Letter from F. James Loprest, Jr., to Catherine O’Hagan
Wolfe (October 7, 2009). Having concluded that such a remand is
appropriate under the unusual circumstances of this case, we remand to
the District Court.
Background
Facts concerning Azize.1 Azize, now 44 years old, was born in the
Dominican Republic in 1965. He came to the United States with his
mother when he was five years old and has lived here since then. He
became a legal permanent resident in 1971 and received a Resident
Alien Receipt Card, known as a “green card.” He enlisted in the
military in 1984 and was honorably discharged in 1990. He lives in
Florida with his elderly mother, who is a United States citizen. He
has three children and three brothers, all of whom are United States
citizens.
Naturalization proceedings. In 1987, Azize filed an Application
to File Petition for Naturalization, Form N-400, with the Immigration
and Naturalization Service (“INS”). He stated, among other things,
that he could write and speak English, that his last tax return was
1 The facts, which we assume are true for purposes of this appeal, are taken from Azize’s petition and other papers filed in the District Court.
-3- filed in 1986,2 and that he was willing to bear arms on behalf of the
United States. He was administered and passed a citizenship
examination and was issued a notice for a preliminary naturalization
hearing, which was held on February 26, 1988. At that hearing, an INS
officer requested that Azize turn in his green card, stating that he
would not need it any more. Azize explained that his green card had
been stolen and that he had applied for a replacement card. A not
entirely legible photocopy of that application is in the joint
appendix for this appeal.3 Azize told the INS officer that she could
locate his application for a replacement card in the INS files and put
a stop on it, and that she should “swear me in,” by which he
presumably meant that the officer should attest that he had sworn to
the truth of the application. The INS officer told Azize that he
should wait for the replacement card to be mailed to him and come back
when he received it.
Form N-400 contains two blank lines at the bottom of the form.
The first follows the printed words “Non Filed,” and the second
follows the printed word “Reasons.” On Azize’s 1987 application form,
2 He answered “No” to the question “Since becoming a permanent resident of the United States, have you failed to file an income tax return because you regarded yourself as a nonresident?”. 3 The Government asserts that the application for a replacement card was approved on July 16, 1987, but make no representation as to whether a replacement card was ever mailed to Azize.
-4- the line following the printed words “Non Filed” contains some
undecipherable letters, which the Government believes are the INS
officer’s initials, and the date “2/26/88.” The line following the
printed word “Reasons” is not filled in.
On April 7, 1989, Azize submitted a second application for
naturalization. On this application he gave all of the same answers
as on his 1987 application, with one difference, which might be
pertinent to his pending appeal. To the question asking, “When was
your last federal income tax return filed?” he answered “none.” On
the lines after the printed words “Non Filed and “Date, reasons” the
following appears: “Does not have PP. - never filed taxes 87-87
elected not to file” followed by what appears to be the initials of
the INS officer and the date of 7/17/89. The Government interprets
“PP” to mean “passport” and contends that “elected not to file” refers
to Azize’s decision not to file the second Form N-400.
Criminal convictions. Several years after his unsuccessful
second attempt to become a citizen, Azize became addicted to drugs
and, in the words of his counsel, “entered a dark period of his life.”
On September 17, 1997, he was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment
upon his plea of guilty to attempted seventh degree criminal
possession of a controlled substance in violation of New York Penal
Law § 220.03 (McKinney 2008). While free on bail prior to sentencing,
Azize was arrested for another narcotics offense, attempted third
-5- degree sale of a controlled substance in violation of New York Penal
Law § 220.39, for which he was sentenced to one year’s imprisonment.
Azize was also convicted in the District of Columbia of selling the
substance known as “ecstacy” in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1),
(b)(1)(C). See United States v. Azize, 88 Fed. Appx. 416 (D.C. Cir.
2004).
Removal proceedings. In 1998 the INS began removal proceedings
based on Azize’s September 17, 1997, conviction. He conceded
removability and requested cancellation of removal pursuant to section
240A of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. § 1229b. In
September 2000, an IJ denied cancellation on the ground that Azize’s
second conviction was for an aggravated felony, which disqualified him
from cancellation. See 8 U.S.C. § 1229b(a)(3). The IJ ordered removal
to the Dominican Republic. In October 2001, the BIA summarily
affirmed.
After serving time for his federal drug offense, Azize was placed
in detention by INS authorities. His counsel represents that he
rehabilitated himself while in detention, completed a substance abuse
program, and earned the praise of detention personnel for his help to
detention staff and inmates. In November 2006, he was placed on
supervised release and has been living and working in Florida since
then.
Habeas corpus proceedings. In December 2004, Azize, proceeding
-6- pro se, initiated a habeas corpus proceeding in the District Court for
the Southern District of New York. He styled his papers “Nunc Pro
Tunc Petition for Naturalization Status” and sought relief including
(1) cancellation of his removal order on the ground that the INS had
violated its regulations in connection with his naturalization
application and (2) an order directing the Bureau of Citizenship and
Immigration Services to grant his application for citizenship nunc pro
tunc.
In August 2005, the District Court transferred the petition to
this Court “to the extent it challenges the order to remove” Azize,
stayed removal pending further order of this Court, and retained
jurisdiction over Azize’s application for release on bail. Transfer
of the challenge to removal was required by the REAL ID Act of 2005,
Pub. L. No. 109-13, 119 Stat. 231 (May 11, 2005). The District Court
subsequently appointed counsel for Azize. The application for release
apparently became moot when the United States Immigration and
Enforcement voluntarily released Azize in November 2006. This Court
appointed as pro bono counsel Hagit M. Elul, Esq., who has very ably
represented Azize.
Discussion
Azize primarily contends that his initial application for
citizenship was improperly denied, that but for this allegedly
improper denial he would have become a naturalized citizen, and that,
-7- as a citizen, he would not have been subject to removal proceedings.
He frames his legal position as asserting both (1) a denial of the
constitutional right to have the Government follow its own procedures,
see Morton v. Ruiz, 415 U.S. 199, 235 (1974), which he contends
applies in the immigration context, see Montilla v. INS, 926 F.2d 162,
164 (2d Cir. 1991), and (2) an estoppel against the Government, see
Thom v. Ashcroft, 369 F.3d 158, 165 n.13 (2d Cir. 2004).
Azize bases his claim of improper denial of his application for
citizenship on what he alleges was the INS’s termination of the
processing of his first application upon his failure to surrender his
green card, which he had informed the INS officer had been stolen and
for which an application for a replacement card was pending. This
action, Azize contends, violated the INS regulation concerning
surrender of a green card, 8 CFR § 338.14 (1988). That regulation
states:
No certificate of naturalization shall be delivered by the clerk of the court in any case in which the representative of the Service in attendance at the final naturalization hearing notifies the clerk of court that the naturalized person has not surrendered his alien registration receipt card. Upon subsequent receipt of notice from the district director that he has waived the surrender of the card or that the card has been surrendered, the certificate shall be delivered by the clerk of court.
Id.
This regulation, Azize contends, makes it clear that failure to
surrender a green card is not a basis to terminate a naturalization
-8- proceeding, much less to deny the applicant the opportunity to take
the oath of citizenship and thereby become a citizen, but is at most
only a bar to receiving from a court clerk the formal certificate of
naturalization. And even this bar, Azize further alleges, is not
absolute, since the District Director may waive the surrender
requirement. Thus, Azize contends, the INS officer should not have
terminated the naturalization proceeding for failure to surrender the
green card, but should have completed all the steps in the process,
except for notifying the court clerk after naturalization had occurred
that the card had been surrendered. These steps include: the
applicant swears to or affirms the application, see 8 CFR § 332.11,
the INS officer signs the application, see id., the applicant files a
petition for naturalization (Form N-405) with a district court, see
id. § 334.13, An INS employee recommends for or against granting the
petition, see id. § 335.12, and notifies the applicant of the date and
place of the final hearing, see id. § 335.13. Upon the court’s
granting of the petition, the applicant takes an oath of allegiance to
the United States in open court. See id. § 337.1. See Boromeo Escaler
v. United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, 582 F.3d 288,
289-90(2d Cir. 2009).
If it is established that the INS officer terminated Azize’s
first naturalization proceeding because he did not surrender his green
card, termination on that basis would have been improper. It does not
-9- follow, however, that Azize would have successfully completed the
naturalization process and become a citizen. Apart from any factual
circumstances that the Government might yet be able to develop that
would have precluded naturalization in 1988, there is on the current
record the notation on Azize’s second application that as of April 7,
1989, when he signed that application, he had not filed any income tax
returns. If he had not filed any required returns, he might not have
been eligible for citizenship. See 8 CFR 316.10(b)(3)(iii) (applicant
lacks required good moral character if the applicant has “[c]ommitted
unlawful acts that adversely reflect upon the applicant’s moral
character.”) However, the circumstances concerning his tax return
record is placed in some doubt by his response on his first
application that he had filed his last (1986) return, and by the
notation of the INS officer on his second application of the curious
entry “87-87" after the words “never filed taxes.”
With such an important matter as citizenship potentially at
stake, we think the facts should be ascertained. We will therefore
remand to the District Court to make the factual determinations
necessary for an adjudication of Azize’s claims and, if those facts
are found in favor of Azize, to proceed to the legal issues on which
his claims for relief depend. Without attempting to circumscribe the
District Court’s inquiry, we think those factual issues include: the
circumstances of Azize’s tax return filings, whether his first
-10- naturalization proceeding was terminated for failure to surrender his
green card,4 and if a premature termination occurred, whether Azize
would have proceeded to the point in the process where he would have
become eligible to take the oath of allegiance. The legal issues
include the nature of the relief to which Azize might now be entitled,
both with respect to his quest for naturalization and his effort to
resist removal.5 Since only this Court has jurisdiction to consider
the merits of the challenge to the removal order, we will request the
District Court to conduct appropriate fact-finding, resolve whatever
legal issues appear to be within its jurisdiction, and, if it believes
any relief from removal is warranted, recommend, in the capacity of a
special master, such relief to this Court.
We appreciate that the Government has presented substantial
4 The dissent contends that the citizenship proceeding was not terminated for lack of a green card, but only interrupted until a replacement card was produced. This is an issue that ought not to be resolved against Azize until appropriate fact-finding has occurred, and any relevant legal issues, based on the facts as found, have been adjudicated. 5 The dissent misinterprets this opinion as contemplating a court ordered grant of citizenship nunc pro tunc. Not so. We simply believe that Azize’s factual and legal claims deserve plenary consideration to determine what relief, if any, he may be entitled to. Moreover, we do not accept the dissent’s premise that such an order is the only relief that could prevent removal. Just as the Government has decided not to oppose a remand, it might well elect not to press ahead with removal if exploration of the facts indicates that Azize should have been permitted to proceed with his application for citizenship up to the point of taking the oath.
-11- procedural and substantive arguments against any relief for Azize.
Nevertheless, we accept the Government’s invitation to determine
whether a remand is “appropriate,” a characterization we believe we
may make without adjudicating at this point any of the Government’s
legal arguments. The equities that Azize has asserted persuade us to
exercise the broad authority set forth in 18 U.S.C. § 2106,6 and, in
light of the Government’s decision not to oppose a remand, to
determine that such a remand is “appropriate” under the circumstances
of this case.
Accordingly, the case is remanded to the District Court for
further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion. From any
final order of the District Court, either party may restore our
jurisdiction by prompt notice to the Clerk of this Court, in which
event the case will be returned to this panel. See United States v.
Jacobson, 15 F.3d 19 (2d Cir. 1994). The stay of removal will be
continued unless and until terminated by order of this Court.
6 The dissent marshalls factors that it contends weigh against any equitable relief. Omitted are the factors that weigh in Azize’s favor, such as his United States citizen children, his United States citizen mother, his financial support for his mother, his commendable assistance to INS detention staff, and the length of time that the Government has permitted him to remain in the United States since the BIA ordered his removal. Whether or not all of the equities, taken together, weigh in favor of ultimate relief for Azize, we believe they at least weigh in favor of a remand.
-12- Dennis Jacobs, Chief Judge, dissenting:
I respectfully dissent.
William Azize, an alien born in the Dominican Republic,
accumulated three drug dealing convictions over a seven year
period, 1997-2004. Unless Mr. Azize is exceedingly unlucky,
his record evidences a busy and persistent career as a drug
dealer. Under 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(2)(B)(I), the then--INS duly
convened proceedings in 1998 to remove him from this country.
In 2000, an Immigration Judge ruled that Azize was ineligible
for relief from removal and directed that he be removed to the
Dominican Republic. In 2001, the Board of Immigration Appeals
affirmed. I see no impediment to his removal, and the
majority opinion offers no convincing reason for derailing the
process of removal.
The majority opinion designates the district court as a
special master to find out whether, more than 20 years ago, an
immigration officer suspended Azize’s citizenship proceedings
because he could not produce his green card (which Azize
contended had been stolen). Even accepting Azize’s account as
true, he took no steps to appeal or reopen–-or to come forward
with a replacement green card. Then, sometime in the
intervening twenty years after the application was marked non-
filed, the proceedings were terminated. Rather than come forward with the replacement green card and continue the
application--or appeal, or take some other step--Azize simply
filed another application for citizenship more than a year
later. Again, Azize failed to appear with the necessary
paperwork; again, he never remedied his omission; again, he
did not become a citizen. In any event, there is no basis for
the majority’s repeated statement that the proceedings were
allegedly “terminated” for failure to produce the green card.
All that Azize alleges is that “[t]he INS informed him that he
could not proceed with Mr. Azize’s naturalization application
until he received a replacement card.” Failure to produce his
green card did not cause termination, as the majority
implicitly acknowledges when it characterizes Azize’s
allegation as “[t]he INS officer told Azize that he should
wait for the replacement card to be mailed to him and come
back when he received it.” He was told to come back, not to
go away (or to reapply).
In ordering the district court to find out whether the
1987 citizenship proceedings were terminated for failure to
produce the green card, the majority concludes that such a
termination would have been improper. Unless the government
can show another reason why Azize would not have been entitled
-2- to citizenship, the majority apparently plans to order
citizenship for Azize, and to do so nunc pro tunc (as that is
the only relief that could prevent his removal). The
following are among the most serious defects in the majority’s
approach.
Even if it were found that an INS employee at Azize’s
preliminary February 26, 1988 hearing asked him to present his
green card, this would not constitute a violation of INS
regulations. The INS had no regulation precluding employees
from asking for an alien’s green card; the most Azize argues
is that the regulations do not expressly require presentation.
The INS’s standard notice for the hearing, which Azize
received, stated that aliens “must bring” their green card to
the hearing. Asking for proof of a green card during the
naturalization process serves the statutory requirement that
an alien must prove five years of continuous, legal residency
before filing a naturalization application. 8 U.S.C. §
1427(a); see also INS v. Pangilinan, 486 U.S. 875, 886 (1988)
(holding that the burden of demonstrating every aspect of
eligibility for citizenship is on the alien). So it was not
inappropriate to ask Azize to produce his green card as proof
of lawful residence and compliance with the immigration laws.
-3- See, 8 U.S.C. 1304(e) (requiring legal aliens above 18 years
of age to carry green card at all times).
Accordingly, even if (as Azize alleges) he was prevented
from further pursuit of citizenship at that time, that would
have been in accordance with the law. The majority apparently
would have allowed the INS to ask for the green card
(indisputably, the applicant must demonstrate his eligibility
and identity), but would place no legal consequence on the
failure to produce the green card that the hearing notice
required him to bring--not even a temporary suspending of the
proceeding while he gets it. Such a reading of the
regulations, which would require the INS to make someone a
citizen in such instances before ensuring that they had a
green card, is improper.
The majority’s apparent purpose for remanding is to see
if there is a factual predicate for the majority to intervene
to compel the grant of citizenship upon Azize. The majority
opinion does not convince me that this Court has the power to
confer citizenship on anyone. “[T]he power to make someone a
citizen of the United States has not been conferred upon the
federal courts, like mandamus or injunction, as one of their
generally applicable equitable powers. . . . Rather, it has
-4- been given [to] them as a specific function to be performed in
strict compliance with the terms of an authorizing statute
which says that ‘[a] person may be naturalized . . . in the
manner and under the conditions prescribed in this subchapter,
and not otherwise.’ 8 U.S. C. § 1421 (d).” INS v. Pangilinan,
486 U.S. 875, 883-884 (1988) (emphasis in original). Absent
statutory authorization, there is no reason to believe that
the federal courts have the power to grant citizenship--which
is what the majority says is “potentially at stake” here.
Finally, none of this would do Azize the slightest good
unless citizenship is conferred upon him nunc pro tunc--that
is, as of 1987, before the first of his serial convictions as
a drug dealer. A great flaw in this approach is that the
grant of relief nunc pro tunc is an equitable remedy. Edwards
v. INS, 393 F.3d 299, 308 (2d Cir. 2004); Iavorski v. INS, 232
F.3d 124, 130 n.4 (2d Cir. 2000). For several reasons, this
is no case for the exercise of equity:
• Azize could have taken steps more than 20 years ago
to pursue the relief that he now seeks nunc pro
• Azize did in fact commence a second citizenship
proceeding, which he abandoned rather than satisfy
-5- the documentary burden placed upon him by law.
• Azize commenced an active career as a drug dealer
more than a decade ago and persisted notwithstanding
repeated convictions and incarcerations.
• The last offense for which he was convicted occurred
while a removal order was pending, conduct that
reflects a contempt for the laws of this country,
and a fixed intent to continue his drug dealing
career.
• To support the idea that Azize is no longer a
dealer, the majority cites no better authority than
Azize’s appellate brief, which characterizes Azize’s
lengthy drug-dealing career “a dark period in his
life.” But the bare assertion of counsel does not
constitute record support.
These equitable considerations all militate against granting
citizenship nunc pro tunc for the purpose of eliding the
salient fact that Azize has been a drug dealer. For these
reasons, I would deny Azize’s petition for review.
-6-