Adjustment Denied Due To Fake Documents

US Immigration
Posted 8/28/2008
LEGAL NOTES / By REUBEN S. SEGURITAN

If an alien enters the U.S. with fraudulent documents and later gets married to a U.S. citizen, is he/she eligible for adjustment of status?

A recent decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals said no.

The case, Orozco v. Musakey, involved Mr. Orozco who entered the U.S. in 1996 using another person’s green card. He was inspected and allowed entry into the U.S. He later met and married a U.S. citizen who filed an I-130 petition for alien relative on his behalf. Mr. Orozco applied for adjustment of status at the same time.

The I-130 was approved by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) but the adjustment application was denied.

He was later placed in removal proceedings on the ground of his prior use of a counterfeit document to gain admission into the U.S.

During the removal proceedings, he filed another adjustment of status application. He also filed a waiver of his misrepresentation under Section 212 (i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) on account of extreme hardship on his U.S. citizen spouse should he be deported.

He argued that because he had presented himself for inspection and was allowed to enter, he was “inspected and admittedâ€