Johnson v. Whitehead

PUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

DAVID JOHNSON, 
Petitioner-Appellant,
v.
J.D. WHITEHEAD, Warden; CALVIN
MCCORMICK, Field Office Director;
JAMES T. HAYES, JR., Director;  No. 09-1981
JULIE MYERS, Assistant Secretary
of Homeland Security; MICHAEL
CHERTOFF, Secretary of Homeland
Security; MICHAEL B. MUKASEY,
U.S. Attorney General,
Respondents-Appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court
for the District of Maryland, at Greenbelt.
Peter J. Messitte, Senior District Judge.
(8:08-cv-01872-PJM)

DAVID LIVINGSTON JOHNSON, a/k/a 
Conrad Llewellyn,
Petitioner,
v.  No. 10-1488
ERIC H. HOLDER, JR., Attorney
General,
Respondent.

On Petition for Review of an Order of
the Board of Immigration Appeals.
2 JOHNSON v. WHITEHEAD
Argued: January 25, 2011

Decided: May 24, 2011

Before TRAXLER, Chief Judge, and WILKINSON and
GREGORY, Circuit Judges.

No. 09-1981 affirmed; No. 10-1488 petition denied by pub-
lished opinion. Judge Wilkinson wrote the majority opinion,
in which Chief Judge Traxler joined. Judge Gregory wrote a
dissenting opinion.

COUNSEL

ARGUED: Angad Singh, WASHINGTON COLLEGE OF
LAW, Appellate Advocacy Clinic, Washington, D.C., for
Petitioner/Appellant. Eric Warren Marsteller, UNITED
STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washington, D.C.,
for Respondents/Appellees. ON BRIEF: Ali A. Beydoun,
UNROW HUMAN RIGHTS IMPACT LITIGATION
CLINIC, Washington, D.C., for Petitioner/Appellant. Tony
West, Assistant Attorney General, Civil Division, Ada E.
Bosque, Senior Litigation Counsel, Office of Immigration Lit-
igation, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE,
Washington, D.C., for Respondents/Appellees.

OPINION

WILKINSON, Circuit Judge:

In 2008, the Department of Homeland Security ("DHS")
initiated removal proceedings against David Johnson, alleging
that he was an alien who had committed a variety of gun and
 JOHNSON v. WHITEHEAD 3
drug offenses. Both the immigration judge and the Board of
Immigration Appeals ("BIA") agreed with DHS that Johnson
was removable. Johnson then filed a petition for a writ of
habeas corpus and a petition for review. He claims that he is
a citizen under 8 U.S.C. § 1432(a)(3). As explained below,
that claim falters under the plain meaning of this constitution-
ally valid act of Congress.

Johnson also argues that because he was declared a United
States citizen in a 1998 removal proceeding, DHS is pre-
cluded from litigating the issue of his alienage in later
removal proceedings. But this claim runs into multiple prob-
lems. The immigration judge in the 1998 proceedings never
purported to declare Johnson a United States citizen. Immi-
gration judges do not even have the authority to confer citi-
zenship. See Barnes v. Holder, 625 F.3d 801, 805-06 (4th Cir.
2010). Yet notwithstanding his criminal misconduct since the
1998 proceedings, he seeks to have DHS forever precluded
from seeking his removal.

This too has problems. Johnson disregards the general rule
that agencies are "free to fashion their own rules of proce-
dure" without interference from courts. Vermont Yankee
Nuclear Power Corp. v. Natural Res. Defense Council, Inc.,
435 U.S. 519, 544 (1978). He asks us to impose a sweeping
rule of preclusion that would prospectively immunize crimi-
nal aliens from deportation, no matter what crimes they might
at some future date commit. But that course would breach the
established relationship between courts and agencies and con-
travene Congress’s efforts to secure the orderly removal of
criminal aliens. See 8 U.S.C. §§ 1228, 1252; Duvall v. Attor-
ney General of the United States, 436 F.3d 382, 391 (3d Cir.
2006). As a result we affirm the district court’s dismissal of
Johnson’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus and deny his
petition for review.

I.

David Johnson, a native of Jamaica, entered the United
States as a lawful permanent resident on October 1, 1972 at
4 JOHNSON v. WHITEHEAD
the age of seven. Johnson’s father accompanied him.
Although his father became a naturalized citizen a little over
a year after their arrival, his father failed to use the procedure
Congress created to apply for United States citizenship on his
minor son’s behalf. Johnson also never applied for United
States citizenship on his own behalf prior to 1996.

Johnson committed a number of crimes during his time in
this country. On January 27, 1989, he was convicted of carry-
ing a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking
crime, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1). And on May 1,
1989, he was convicted in state court of unlawful possession
of a controlled substance and aggravated assault.

The Immigration and Naturalization Service ("INS"),
whose powers in this area have since been transferred to
DHS, sought to deport Johnson on the basis of these convic-
tions. On August 21, 1992, INS issued Johnson an Order to
Show Cause, claiming Johnson was deportable from the
United States based on his criminal offenses. The immigration
judge terminated the proceedings for reasons that were not
discussed in the order.

On June 21, 1996, INS issued another Order to Show
Cause, claiming Johnson was deportable on account of his
drug and firearms convictions. The immigration judge termi-
nated the proceedings on February 9, 1998, stating that John-
son "appears to be [a] U.S. citizen by [his] father’s
[naturalization]." J.A. 31. INS did not appeal.

On December 16, 1996, during the pendency of the
removal proceedings, Johnson filed a Form N-600 Applica-
tion for Certificate of Citizenship with INS, claiming that he
derived United States citizenship from his father’s naturaliza-
tion. Johnson relied on 8 U.S.C. § 1432(a)(3), which has since
been repealed. This subsection stated that "[t]he naturalization
of the parent having legal custody of the child when there has
been a legal separation of the parents" conferred citizenship
 JOHNSON v. WHITEHEAD 5
on that child. 8 U.S.C. § 1432(a)(3). On April 5, 2000, INS
denied the application because Johnson, whose parents had
never married, could not show that his parents had legally
separated. Johnson did not appeal INS’s denial.

On January 28, 2002, Johnson was convicted of possession
of a firearm by a convicted felon, in violation of 18 U.S.C.
§ 922(g)(1), and was sentenced to 108 months imprisonment.
Near the end of that term, on June 18, 2008, DHS initiated
removal proceedings against Johnson and served him with a
Notice to Appear, alleging that he was an alien removable by
virtue of his 2002 and 1989 convictions. Johnson argued that
preclusion principles barred DHS from relitigating the issue
of his citizenship because the immigration judge in the 1998
proceedings had found him to be a United States citizen.

On May 21, 2009, the immigration judge denied Johnson’s
motion to terminate the proceedings and ordered him
deported. The immigration judge concluded that DHS was not
precluded from litigating the issue of Johnson’s citizenship
because the 1998 termination order did not make any citizen-
ship finding. Even if this obstacle were absent, the immigra-
tion judge reasoned, under Duvall v. Attorney General of the
United States, 436 F.3d 382 (3d Cir. 2006), Johnson’s com-
mission of an additional crime since the 1998 proceedings
lifted any preclusion bar that might otherwise have existed.
Additionally, the immigration judge ruled that Johnson did
not derive citizenship from his father’s naturalization.

Johnson appealed this decision to the BIA. The BIA dis-
missed the appeal, relying principally on the Duvall argument
and agreeing that Johnson did not obtain citizenship through
his father’s naturalization. Johnson filed a petition for review.

Johnson also petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus on July
18, 2008, raising the same citizenship issue he litigated in the
removal proceedings. The district court dismissed the petition.
Johnson appealed, but this court held the case in abeyance
6 JOHNSON v. WHITEHEAD
pending the BIA’s decision in Johnson’s removal proceed-
ings. On May 12, 2010, upon Johnson’s filing of a petition for
review of the BIA’s dismissal of his appeal, this court consol-
idated Johnson’s habeas appeal with his petition for review.

II.

We first consider Johnson’s petition for a writ of habeas
corpus. At oral argument Johnson conceded that his petition
for review, not his habeas corpus petition, was the proper ave-
nue of appeal. This is because the district court was without
jurisdiction to consider the citizenship issues raised in the
habeas petition.

Petitions for review are the appropriate vehicle for judicial
review of legal and factual questions arising in removal pro-
ceedings. See 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(5) ("[A] petition for review
. . . shall be the sole and exclusive means for judicial review
of an order of removal . . . ."); 8 U.S.C. § 1252(b)(9)
("Judicial review of all questions of law and fact . . . arising
from any action taken or proceeding brought to remove an
alien from the United States under this subchapter shall be
available only in judicial review of a final order under this
section.").

In fact, Congress has specifically prohibited the use of
habeas corpus petitions as a way of obtaining review of ques-
tions arising in removal proceedings. 8 U.S.C. § 1252(b)(9)
("[N]o court shall have jurisdiction, by habeas corpus . . . to
review such an order or such questions of law or fact.").
Therefore, because the issue of Johnson’s citizenship arose in
his removal proceedings, his petition for review, not his
habeas corpus petition, is the proper means of seeking redress.

Johnson’s habeas corpus petition is likewise barred because
he failed to exhaust administrative remedies before filing his
habeas action in the district court. See 8 U.S.C. § 1503(a)
(requiring a "final administrative denial" before instituting a
 JOHNSON v. WHITEHEAD 7
suit "for a judgment declaring him to be a national of the
United States"). Indeed, Johnson failed to appeal the rejection
of his Form N-600 Application for Certificate of Citizenship
to the Administrative Appeals Unit of INS.

Because 8 U.S.C. §§ 1252(b)(9) and 1503(a) prohibit John-
son from obtaining review of his citizenship claims through
a habeas corpus petition, we affirm the district court’s juris-
dictional dismissal of Johnson’s petition for a writ of habeas
corpus. As directed by statute, we review Johnson’s claims
only in the context of his petition for review.

III.

Johnson argues in his petition for review that he is a United
States citizen and that the BIA adopted an impermissible and
unconstitutional interpretation of 8 U.S.C. § 1432 in ruling
otherwise. This issue is of central importance, because if
Johnson ever was a citizen, his criminal acts would not strip
him of citizenship and DHS would be unable to remove him.
See Minasyan v. Gonzales, 401 F.3d 1069, 1075 (9th Cir.
2005). But the BIA in fact read the statute in accordance with
its unambiguous meaning, and the statute passes constitu-
tional muster.

A.

The particular provision at issue here is 8 U.S.C.
§ 1432(a)(3):

A child born outside of the United States of alien
parents . . . becomes a citizen of the United States
upon fulfillment of the following conditions: . . . (3)
The naturalization of the parent having legal custody
of the child when there has been a legal separation
of the parents or the naturalization of the mother if
the child was born out of wedlock and the paternity
8 JOHNSON v. WHITEHEAD
of the child has not been established by legitimation
....

Johnson argues that he qualifies for citizenship because his
father had sole custody of him when his father became a
United States citizen. Johnson claims to satisfy the "legal sep-
aration" requirement of § 1432(a)(3) because even though his
parents were never married, his mother severed family ties
before his father naturalized.

But Johnson’s conclusion falters on the fact that his parents
did not marry. The BIA has reasoned that the term "legal sep-
aration" requires that there first be a marriage and then formal
steps to end that marriage. And that is the clear meaning of
the statute.

Every circuit that has considered the issue has found a mar-
riage requirement in the term "legal separation." See Lewis v.
Gonzales, 481 F.3d 125, 130 (2d Cir. 2007); Morgan v. Attor-
ney General of the United States, 432 F.3d 226, 234 (3d Cir.
2005); Barthelemy v. Ashcroft, 329 F.3d 1062, 1065 (9th Cir.
2003); Nehme v. INS, 252 F.3d 415, 425-26 (5th Cir. 2001).
The Fourth Circuit is no exception. In Afeta v. Gonzales, 467
F.3d 402 (4th Cir. 2006), we held that the BIA’s interpretation
of "legal separation" as "requiring that the minor alien’s par-
ents have taken formal judicial steps to end their marriage"
was a reasonable one. Id. at 404.

The reason for this unanimity lies in the strength of the
underlying arguments for a marriage requirement. Section
1432(a)(3) is divided into two parts. The first concerns the
circumstance of "legal separation." The second deals with
"out of wedlock" situations. Over and above the fact that the
term "legal separation" alone implies that there be some for-
mal relationship, such as marriage, that can be ended only
with legal action, the statute contrasts "legal separation" with
"out of wedlock." Congress plainly did not break this subsec-
tion into two parts based on these two distinct terms with the
 JOHNSON v. WHITEHEAD 9
intention of making them functionally equivalent. Rather,
§ 1432(a)(3) created one path to citizenship for children
whose parents had married but had undergone a "legal separa-
tion" and another for those children born "out of wedlock"
whose parents had never married. Johnson could not seek citi-
zenship under the former route because his parents never mar-
ried. He has not sought to establish citizenship through the
latter route because his mother never naturalized.

The marriage requirement also makes sense in light of the
broader statutory scheme. Section 1432 takes pains to protect
the rights of both parents. Naturalization is a "significant legal
event with consequences for the child here and perhaps within
his country of birth or other citizenship." Lewis, 481 F.3d at
131. Congress "recognize[d] that either parent . . . may have
reasons to oppose the naturalization of their child, and it
respects each parent’s rights in this regard." Id. at 131; see
Wedderburn v. INS, 215 F.3d 795, 800 (7th Cir. 2000)
(explaining that a "parent may have reasons to prefer the
child’s original citizenship, which may affect obligations such
as military service and taxation").

Accordingly, an automatic conferral of citizenship usually
requires the naturalization of both parents, and exceptions to
this rule, including § 1432(a)(3), are narrowly tailored to
avoid undue interference in the parent-child relationship. 8
U.S.C. § 1432. The statutory exceptions cover some scenarios
where one parent "has been removed from the picture" to
some degree. Wedderburn, 215 F.3d at 800. These include sit-
uations where one parent is deceased, where the father has not
legitimated his child and the mother has been naturalized, and
where the parents have undergone a legal separation and one
parent is awarded sole custody of the child. U.S.C. § 1432.
None of these exceptions applied to Johnson. These are not
arbitrary distinctions. At the very least, they all involve situa-
tions where it is reasonable to raise the rights of one parent
above those of the other.
10 JOHNSON v. WHITEHEAD
It is also important to keep in mind that § 1432 concerns
only the automatic conferral of citizenship. Johnson did not
"slip[ ] through some crack in our immigration law." Lewis,
481 F.3d at 132. Johnson’s father could have applied to natu-
ralize his son under the then-existing version of 8 U.S.C.
§ 1433, which allowed a citizen parent to apply for naturaliza-
tion of his or her child. There was no legal separation require-
ment in that version of § 1433. But Johnson’s father never
pursued this avenue. Whatever the reason for Johnson’s
father’s decision, the point is that immigration law provided
children such as Johnson with an alternative route to citizen-
ship.

B.

Johnson’s constitutional challenge is similarly flawed.
Legal classifications based on legitimacy are typically
reviewed under intermediate scrutiny. Clark v. Jeter, 486 U.S.
456, 461 (1988). But the immigration context is a special one.

The Supreme Court has emphasized Congress’s plenary
power over immigration and naturalization: "‘[O]ver no con-
ceivable subject is the legislative power of Congress more
complete than it is over’ the admission of aliens." Fiallo v.
Bell, 430 U.S. 787, 792 (1977) (quoting Oceanic Navigation
Co. v. Stranahan, 214 U.S. 320, 339 (1909)). "[T]he power
over aliens is of a political character and therefore subject
only to narrow judicial review." Id. (quoting Hampton v. Mow
Sun Wong, 426 U.S. 88, 101 n.21 (1976)) (internal quotation
marks omitted). Accordingly, in matters of immigration and
naturalization, "Congress regularly makes rules that would be
unacceptable if applied to citizens." Id. (quoting Mathews v.
Diaz, 426 U.S. 67, 80 (1976)) (internal quotation marks omit-
ted).

Based on these principles, the Fiallo Court applied rational
basis review to a legal classification based on legitimacy. Id.
at 788-89, 794-95. Indeed, the issue in that case was similar
 JOHNSON v. WHITEHEAD 11
to the one here. In Fiallo, immigration statutes granted prefer-
ential immigration status to legitimate children of a United
States citizen or lawful permanent resident. Id. at 788-89. But
out of wedlock children could obtain the same preference
only through their mother and not through their father. Id. at
788-89.

The statute at issue here, 8 U.S.C. 1432(a)(3), makes pre-
cisely the same distinction, automatically conferring citizen-
ship on legitimate children when the parent with sole custody
after a legal separation naturalizes and on out of wedlock chil-
dren only when the mother naturalizes. Thus we must apply
the same standard as the Fiallo court and uphold the statute
if a "facially legitimate and bona fide reason" supports the
distinction. Id. at 794 (quoting Kleindienst v. Mandel, 408
U.S. 753, 770 (1972)) (internal quotation marks omitted). Our
sister circuits have been faithful to Fiallo as well, applying
rational basis review to 8 U.S.C. 1432(a)(3). See Barthelemy,
329 F.3d at 1065-66; Wedderburn, 215 F.3d at 800.

Congress certainly had a rational basis here. As discussed
above, the distinction between children born in and out of
wedlock protects parental rights. Section 1432 "limits auto-
matic changes to situations in which the other parent has been
removed from the picture." Wedderburn, 215 F.3d at 800.
This removal can occur via death, a combination of legal sep-
aration and sole custody, or a father’s failure to legitimate his
child. 8 U.S.C. § 1432. Perhaps these three categories do not
cover every conceivable situation in which the rights of a one
parent should be elevated above those of the other. But our
role is not to second-guess the judgment of Congress. Rather,
the question is whether the statute is supported by a rational
basis. And it surely is.1
(Text continued on page 13)

1
A word in response to our fine colleague in dissent. Every circuit,
including this one, to have considered the matter has found in the term
"legal separation" a requirement of some formal legal step to end a mar-
riage. The dissent’s construction of § 1432(a)(3), however, strips the
12 JOHNSON v. WHITEHEAD
"legal separation" language from the statute and replaces it with a more
informal standard it calls "parental abandonment." Dissenting Opinion at
22-24. This is a novel reading of the statute, one that no court or agency
has adopted. It is not clear what exactly is sufficient to meet the new "pa-
rental abandonment" standard, and neither Congress nor the relevant agen-
cies nor the courts nor the dissent has set forth what the criteria should be.
It is easy to speculate on all sorts of scenarios that may or may not amount
to abandonment, and in any event we have no authority to write into the
statute a standard Congress did not put there.
The dissent also calls for heightened scrutiny of § 1432(a)(3). The
Supreme Court, however, has never disavowed the rational basis test
adopted in Fiallo for precisely this situation, and the circuits upholding
§ 1432(a)(3) have likewise followed Fiallo in applying rational basis
review. Recognizing the plenary power of Congress in the immigration
context, the two cases upon which the dissent rests its case both rejected
constitutional challenges to the statutes at issue. See Nguyen v. INS., 533
U.S. 53, 72-73 (2001) (noting the "wide deference afforded to Congress
in the exercise of its immigration and naturalization power"); Miller v.
Albright, 523 U.S. 420, 434 n.11 (1998) ("Deference to the political
branches dictates ‘a narrow standard of review of decisions made by the
Congress or the President in the area of immigration and naturalization.’")
(quoting Mathews v. Diaz, 426 U.S. 67, 82 (1976)).
The Court applied heightened scrutiny only because the statutes at issue
could so clearly be upheld under that standard, thus eliminating the need
to choose between heightened scrutiny and rational basis review. See
Nguyen, 533 U.S. at 61 ("Given that determination [that the statute satis-
fies heightened scrutiny], we need not decide whether some lesser degree
of scrutiny pertains . . . ."); Miller, 523 U.S. at 434 n.11 (opinion of Ste-
vens, J., joined by Rehnquist, C.J.)("Even if . . . heightened scrutiny . . .
applied in this context, we are persuaded that the requirement imposed by
§ 1409(a)(4) . . . is substantially related to important governmental objec-
tives.") (internal citations omitted). Thus, neither Nguyen nor Miller held
that heightened scrutiny is required.
Finally, our friend in dissent attempts to build an equitable case for peti-
tioner, but it bears remarking that petitioner’s difficulties are attributable
to his repeated criminal offenses, not to any unconstitutional flaw in the
immigration laws. And, to sum up, the combination of adopting a "paren-
tal abandonment" standard and requiring heightened scrutiny of
§ 1432(a)(3) requires the courts to formulate to an unacceptable extent
immigration policy for Congress and DHS. We would be holding in effect
 JOHNSON v. WHITEHEAD 13
IV.

Johnson additionally argues that because DHS failed to
prove his alienage in the 1998 removal proceedings, DHS was
precluded from relitigating the issue of his alienage in the
2009 removal proceedings. Johnson further claims that the
1998 immigration judge declared him a citizen and that that
ruling forever bars DHS from revisiting the issue of his citi-
zenship or alienage.2 But this is simply not the case. Johnson
has not satisfied the requirements for issue preclusion, and,
even if he could overcome that obstacle, preclusion still
would not apply given the criminal misconduct apparent in
his case.

A.

We begin our analysis with an overview of administrative
preclusion principles. A "basic tenet of administrative law [is]
that agencies should be free to fashion their own rules of pro-
cedure." Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp. v. Natural
Res. Defense Council, Inc., 435 U.S. 519, 544 (1978). Con-
gress determined that "administrative agencies . . . will be in
a better position than federal courts . . . to design procedural
rules adapted to the peculiarities of the . . . tasks of the agency
involved." Id. at 524-25 (quoting FCC v. Schreiber, 381 U.S.
279, 290 (1965)). Therefore, the judiciary should not recon-
struct agency procedures unless they are inconsistent with the

that Congress and DHS were constitutionally compelled to devalue the
importance of traditional family ties in immigration policy. This would
frankly place us on the far limb, assigning to ourselves a choice that is in
the end one for Congress to make.
2
The legally relevant concept in removal proceedings is alienage, which
is a state of not being a citizen. See 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(3). But the alienage
inquiry is closely related to the citizenship inquiry because if Johnson
were to establish the fact of citizenship, then DHS obviously could not
establish the fact of his alienage.
14 JOHNSON v. WHITEHEAD
demands of the agency’s governing statute or the Constitu-
tion. See Schreiber, 381 U.S. at 290-91.

Accordingly, in the immigration context, we must take care
to enforce only those preclusion principles consistent with the
source of our authority—the Immigration and Nationality Act
("INA"). While judicial preclusion rules ordinarily reflect the
common law, agency preclusion rules are creatures of statute.
See Astoria Fed. Sav. & Loan Ass’n v. Solimino, 501 U.S.
104, 108 (1991); Duvall v. Attorney General of the United
States, 436 F.3d 382, 386-87 (3d Cir. 2006). Courts must thus
refrain from imposing judge-made preclusion principles on
agencies unless such a course is dictated by statute. See
Astoria, 501 U.S. at 108; Schreiber, 381 U.S. at 290-91. The
relative merits of the preclusion principles followed by courts
and those followed by agencies are irrelevant: "[T]he question
is not whether administrative estoppel is wise but whether it
is intended by the legislature." Astoria, 501 U.S. at 108.

The INA contains no provision requiring the BIA to adopt
any particular set of preclusion rules. Of course, it is true that
"Congress is understood to legislate against a background of
common-law adjudicatory principles," including rules of pre-
clusion. Id. But this is not a license for courts to impose their
own preclusion rules on agencies. To do so would undermine
the agency’s accumulated familiarity and expertise in its sub-
ject area. See Schreiber, 381 U.S. at 290-91. Agencies are
familiar with their own procedures and rulings. See id. And an
agency’s expertise, developed over years of dealing with the
subject matter delegated to it by the Congress, guides the
agency in crafting appropriate rules of preclusion and assess-
ing the preclusive effects of its prior rulings. See id. For a
court to wade casually into the waters of agency procedure
would not be conducive to the deference normally owed agen-
cies in their congressionally sanctioned spheres.

Furthermore, federal courts traditionally refer to the preclu-
sion rules of a fellow adjudicative body when determining the
 JOHNSON v. WHITEHEAD 15
preclusive effect of a ruling from that body. For example,
when determining the preclusive effect of a state court ruling,
federal courts do not view it through the lens of their own pre-
clusion principles. Rather, they "give the same preclusive
effect to state court judgments that those judgments would be
given in the courts of the State from which the judgments
emerged." Kremer v. Chemical Constr. Corp., 456 U.S. 461,
466 (1982). Agency rulings present a similar case, especially
in the context here, where the issue is the preclusive effect of
a prior agency ruling on a later agency adjudication. Thus, it
seems axiomatic that the BIA’s rejection of the preclusive
effect of its 1998 termination order is entitled to judicial
respect.

B.

Johnson claims that the government failed to prove his
alienage in the 1998 proceedings by "clear, unequivocal, and
convincing evidence." 8 C.F.R. § 1240.46. In fact, Johnson
goes further, arguing that the 1998 immigration judge
declared him a citizen. He contends, therefore, that the gov-
ernment is precluded from "relitigating" the issue of his alien-
age in later removal proceedings. To the extent that preclusion
principles apply to removal proceedings, Johnson cannot ben-
efit from them here. Johnson’s first problem is that he cannot
satisfy even the most basic principle of issue preclusion—that
the issue actually had been decided in the previous proceed-
ing. Collins v. Pond Creek Mining Co., 468 F.3d 213, 217
(4th Cir. 2006). No body of which we are aware would invoke
preclusion against a party where the issue in question had
never been previously decided.

The immigration judge in the 1998 proceedings never pur-
ported to declare Johnson a United States citizen. Rather, he
merely noted that Johnson "appears to be [a] U.S. citizen by
[his] father’s [naturalization]." J.A. 31. As both the immigra-
tion judge and the BIA concluded, this equivocal language
does not indicate any conferral of citizenship. The BIA stated
16 JOHNSON v. WHITEHEAD
as much: "[T]he prior deportation case does not reflect a for-
mal finding of citizenship." J.A. 262. A declaration of citizen-
ship is a significant step, and it would be remarkable to find
it accomplished in this offhanded a manner. In other words,
assuming the privileges and obligations of citizenship is a
matter of some formality, and it would undermine the natural-
ization process to hold otherwise.

Furthermore, neither immigration judges nor the BIA have
any power to confer United States citizenship. We made this
point explicit in Barnes v. Holder, 625 F.3d 801, 805-06 (4th
Cir. 2010). There we noted that "the BIA and IJs . . . ‘lack
jurisdiction over [naturalization].’" Id. at 806 (quoting In re
Acosta Hidalgo, 24 I. & N. Dec. 103, 108 (B.I.A. 2007)).
"Congress has ‘exclusive constitutional power’ over national-
ization, and therefore citizenship may be conferred upon
foreign-born persons only by act of Congress." Jahed v. Acri,
468 F.3d 230, 234 (4th Cir. 2006) (quoting INS v. Pangilinan,
486 U.S. 875, 882 (1988)). Congress conferred "sole authority
to naturalize persons as citizens of the United States . . . upon
the Attorney General." 8 U.S.C. § 1421(a). The Attorney
General delegated these powers to INS, and they have since
been transferred to DHS. 6 U.S.C. §§ 271 & 557; 8 C.F.R.
§§ 2.1 & 310.1. Although immigration judges, see 8 C.F.R.
§ 1003.10, and the BIA, see 8 C.F.R. § 1003.1, have responsi-
bilities in the immigration area, naturalization is not among
them. Thus, "DHS is the only body statutorily vested with the
power to make naturalization decisions in the first instance."
Barnes, 625 F.3d at 805. Accordingly, an application to DHS,
and not a plea to an immigration judge, is the appropriate ave-
nue to citizenship.

Johnson pursued this proper route to naturalization through
INS. After the close of the 1998 proceedings, INS acted on
Johnson’s Form N-600 Application for Certificate of Citizen-
ship; it denied his application. Thus, the official position of
the agency with statutory and administrative authority over
 JOHNSON v. WHITEHEAD 17
naturalization issues is that Johnson is not a United States citi-
zen.

The odd results of Johnson’s position thus come into focus.
If Johnson were to prevail on his preclusion argument, he
would be left in limbo—in some nebulous state of quasi-
citizenship or non-alienage. He could commit crimes without
fear of deportation because in the context of removal proceed-
ings he would be treated as a United States citizen. But,
because he would not actually be a United States citizen,
many of the other privileges of citizenship—such as voting or
obtaining a United States passport—would remain beyond his
grasp. Congress sought to avoid such a partial citizenship situ-
ation by centralizing naturalization authority. See 8 U.S.C.
§ 1421(a). We cannot upset this scheme by granting natural-
ization authority to the 1998 immigration judge who neither
purported to nor had the power to declare Johnson a United
States citizen.

C.

Other bars to preclusion exist as well. No common law pre-
clusion principle applies to an agency "when a statutory pur-
pose [in opposition to the preclusion rule] is evident." Astoria,
501 U.S. at 108 (quoting Isbrandtsen Co. v. Johnson, 343
U.S. 779, 783 (1952)) (internal quotation marks omitted).
Such a purpose is evident here. Removal of aliens who com-
mit serious crimes is a central aim of the INA. See Duvall,
436 F.3d at 391. Congress not only has adopted streamlined
procedures for deporting criminal aliens, see 8 U.S.C.
§ 1228(a) (requiring "special removal proceedings" that "as-
sure[ ] expeditious removal" of criminal aliens), but it went
even further, limiting judicial review of removal orders in
such cases, see 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(2)(C) & (D) (restricting
judicial review of final orders of removal against some crimi-
nal aliens to "constitutional claims or questions of law"). Leg-
islative modifications of the INA have been in this same vein,
seeking to craft a more effective and efficient process for
18 JOHNSON v. WHITEHEAD
removing those aliens who commit serious crimes while in
the United States. See REAL ID Act of 2005, Pub. L. No.
109-13, § 106; 119 Stat. 231, 310-11; Antiterrorism and
Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, Pub. L. No. 104-132,
§§ 432, 440, 442, 110 Stat. 1214, 1273-74, 1276-80; Illegal
Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of
1996, Pub. L. No. 104-208, § 321, 110 Stat. 3009, 3009-627
to 3009-628.

Johnson falls into the class of criminal aliens Congress
sought to remove. There are multiple statutory bases for
removing Johnson because of his criminal misconduct. See 8
U.S.C. § 1227(a)(2). Just to name a few, his drug conviction
qualifies him as removable under § 1227(a)(2)(B)(i), and his
firearms convictions qualify him under § 1227(a)(2)(C). And
yet he now seeks permanent immunization from removal, no
matter what crimes he chooses to commit, all because of one
ruling from an immigration judge in 1998 whose substance
and legal import he has misconstrued.

Granting Johnson’s request would trample on both agency
practice and congressional intent. To preclude DHS from
seeking to remove an alien who continues to engage in crimi-
nal conduct after the termination of earlier removal proceed-
ings would frustrate one of the core purposes of the INA—the
prompt removal of criminal aliens. See Duvall, 436 F.3d at
391. Indeed, only repeat offenders would benefit from such
a rule of preclusion. As the Third Circuit noted, these aliens
"could flout any rule or commit any offense without fear of
deportation." Id. It would be ironic to suggest that Congress,
in its repeated efforts to ensure the orderly removal of crimi-
nal aliens, had instead granted a uniquely generous rule of
preclusion to a problematic class of repeat offenders. We sim-
ply cannot grant what Congress has refused to tender: the
blanket immunization Johnson now seeks.
 JOHNSON v. WHITEHEAD 19
V.

For the foregoing reasons, we affirm the district court’s dis-
missal of Johnson’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus and
deny his petition for review.

No. 09-1981 AFFIRMED
No. 10-1488 PETITION DENIED

GREGORY, Circuit Judge, dissenting:

While I agree that the rules of preclusion are, in this case,
not applicable to the administrative courts, I believe that the
Board of Immigration Appeals’ interpretation of the phrase
"legal separation" in 8 U.S.C. § 1432(a)(3) violates the equal
protection guarantee of the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process
Clause. Therefore, I respectfully dissent.

The majority holds that a legal separation can occur only
after a divorce, and, contrary to precedent, applies rational
basis review to § 1432(a)(3). Section 1432(a)(3) is an immi-
gration law that does not permit fathers to automatically pass
on citizenship to their children born out-of-wedlock, and
therefore discriminates based on legitimacy. Thus, I would
instead apply heightened scrutiny, and save § 1432(a)(3) by
reading it so that a separation may also occur where an alien
mother has formally relinquished her rights over a child to a
naturalized father. See Edward J. DeBartolo Corp. v. Florida
Gulf Coast Bldg. & Constr. Trades Council, 485 U.S. 568,
575 (1988) ("[W]here an otherwise acceptable construction of
a statute would raise serious constitutional problems, the
Court will construe the statute to avoid such problems unless
such construction is plainly contrary to the intent of Con-
gress."). The adoption of this alternative interpretation would
eliminate the unconstitutional aspects of the Board of Immi-
gration Appeals’ understanding of the law.
20 JOHNSON v. WHITEHEAD
I.

As the majority correctly points out, Congress has plenary
power in the immigration context, see Fiallo v. Bell, 430 U.S.
787, 792 (1977) ("[O]ver no conceivable subject is the legis-
lative power of Congress more complete than it is over the
admission of aliens." (citation and internal quotations omit-
ted)), and we are generally bound to apply only rational basis
review when assessing an equal protection challenge to an
immigration law, Appiah v. I.N.S., 202 F.3d 704, 709-10 (4th
Cir. 2000) (applying rational basis review where an alien
questioned the constitutionality of an immigration law).

Nevertheless, where the petitioner, like Johnson, claims
that he or she is statutorily entitled to actual citizenship, and
is not merely seeking residency or a special immigration sta-
tus, the Supreme Court has applied the more stringent form of
"intermediate" or "heightened" scrutiny. See Nguyen v. I.N.S.,
533 U.S. 53, 60-61 (2001) (applying heightened scrutiny);
Miller v. Albright, 523 U.S. 420, 429-34 & n.11 (1998) (plu-
rality) (same); see also Nguyen v. I.N.S., 208 F.3d 528, 533-
35 (5th Cir. 2000), aff’d 533 U.S. 53 (2001) (same).

In Miller, the daughter of a citizen father brought an action
challenging the constitutionality of 8 U.S.C. § 1409(a) on
equal protection grounds. 523 U.S. at 426-27. Section 1409
required that, in order to pass citizenship onto his child born
to an alien woman abroad, a citizen father had to recognize
his child before she turned eighteen, but did not impose simi-
lar burdens on citizen mothers. Id. at 424-26.

After applying heightened scrutiny to the law, a plurality of
the Court held that the statute did not violate equal protection.
Compare 523 U.S. at 429-41 (plurality) with 523 U.S. at 476-
78 (Breyer, J., dissenting) (arguing that intermediate scrutiny
should apply to naturalization laws that discriminate based on
sex). The plurality opinion distinguished Fiallo and declined
to apply it "because that case involved the claims of several
 JOHNSON v. WHITEHEAD 21
aliens to a special immigration preference, whereas here peti-
tioner claims that she is, and for years has been, an American
citizen." Miller, 523 U.S. at 428-29; see also Nguyen, 208
F.3d at 535. In the present case, like the petitioner in Miller,
Johnson also claims to have become and remained a citizen
since 1973, when his father naturalized.

In Nguyen, a majority of the Supreme Court clarified Miller
when it again upheld § 1409, but did so only after evaluating
it under the heightened scrutiny standard. 533 U.S. at 60-61.
The petitioner, a lawful permanent resident born out-of-
wedlock to and raised by a citizen father in the United States,
also claimed that 8 U.S.C. § 1409 violated equal protection,
and that he was therefore entitled to actual citizenship. Id. at
58. Because the law at issue was a gender-based classifica-
tion, the Court applied heightened scrutiny. Id. at 60-61.
However, even after applying this standard, the Court again
held that the law was valid because it was substantially related
to the important governmental objectives of ensuring the exis-
tence of a biological relationship and a genuine familial bond
between the citizen father and the child. Id. at 60-71.

It does not matter that Johnson’s challenge to § 1432(a)(3)
is based on a distinction drawn between the marital status of
his parents, and not explicitly on sex or gender discrimination,
since both forms of classification are subjected to heightened
scrutiny. See Clark v. Jeter, 486 U.S. 456, 461 (1988)
("[I]ntermediate scrutiny . . . has been applied to discrimina-
tory classifications based on sex or illegitimacy."). We are
further compelled to employ this higher standard because, like
the statutes analyzed in Miller and Nguyen, § 1432 clearly
implicates other significant constitutional interests, such as a
person’s rights to citizenship, Kennedy v. Mendoza-Martinez,
372 U.S. 144, 159 (1963) ("Citizenship is a most precious
right."), and to maintain a familial bond, Wisconson v. Yoder,
406 U.S. 205, 233-34 (1972) (describing the "charter of the
22 JOHNSON v. WHITEHEAD
rights of parents" to direct the moral and religious upbringing
of their children).1

II.

"Intermediate scrutiny queries whether a statute is substan-
tially related to an important governmental interest." United
States v. Chester, 628 F.3d 673, 690 (4th Cir. 2010) (citing
Craig v. Boren, 429 U.S. 190, 197 (1976)). "Significantly,
intermediate scrutiny places the burden of establishing the
required fit squarely upon the government." Chester, 628 F.3d
at 683 (citing Bd. of Trs. of State Univ. of N.Y. v. Fox, 492
U.S. 469, 480–81 (1989)).

Section 1432(a)(1) established a general rule that allows a
child to obtain citizenship automatically only after both par-
ents have naturalized. Recognizing the need for flexibility,
Congress also created several exceptions to this rule which
are outlined in §§ 1432(a)(2) and (a)(3), and include only
those scenarios where "one parent has ‘been removed from
the picture’ to some degree." Slip Op. 9 (quoting Wedderburn
v. I.N.S., 215 F.3d 795, 800 (7th Cir. 2000)). Specifically,
these exceptions are situations where an unmarried mother
has naturalized and the father has not legitimated the child,
where one parent has died, and where the custodial parent has
1
The cases relied on by the majority either mistakenly applied the lesser
standard, Barthelemy v. Ashcroft, 329 F.3d 1062, 1065-66 (9th Cir. 2003),
or did not involve equal protection challenges, Lewis v. Gonzales, 481
F.3d 125, 131-32 (2d Cir. 2007).
While the Seventh Circuit in Wedderburn v. I.N.S. did discuss Miller,
that case was decided a year before Nguyen. 215 F.3d 795, 800-02 (7th
Cir. 2000). The Seventh Circuit also wrongly found that the Miller plural-
ity applied only the rational-basis test, 215 F.3d at 801, when in fact Miller
undoubtedly applied heightened scrutiny, 523 U.S. at 434 n.11. See also
523 U.S. at 451-52 (O’Connor, J., concurring) (questioning the plurality
opinion’s decision to apply heightened scrutiny); Nguyen, 208 F.3d at 533-
36 ("A plurality opinion authored by Justice Stevens, appl[ied] the height-
ened scrutiny standard . . . ." (citing Miller, 523 U.S. at 423)).
 JOHNSON v. WHITEHEAD 23
naturalized and there has been a "legal separation." 8 U.S.C.
§§ 1432(a)(2) and (a)(3).

The majority reads § 1432(a)(2) so that it will only give
automatic citizenship to a child when a father has retained
custody of the child, divorced that child’s alien mother, and
then naturalized. My colleagues may be correct that, where an
alien mother has an ongoing claim to a child, the protection
of the mother’s rights constitutes an important governmental
interest. See Slip Op. 8-9; see also Barthelemy v. Ashcroft,
329 F.3d 1062, 1066 (9th Cir. 2003) ("If United States citi-
zenship were conferred to a child where one parent natural-
ized, but the other parent remained an alien, the alien’s
parents rights could be effectively extinguished."). However,
they too easily dismiss the legal limbo that this leaves chil-
dren like Johnson in, i.e., persons whose parents were never-
married, and whose alien mother has willingly absolved her-
self of all parental rights. Unlike the majority, I can see no
governmental interest in or reasonable basis for protecting the
illusory "rights" of such parents. How can the majority’s
interpretation comport with the Constitution when it clearly
discriminates based on legitimacy, and does so ostensibly in
order to "protect" rights that the rights-holder herself has
abandoned? The answer is it cannot. Thus, it is unreasonable
to seek to save § 1432(a)(3) by claiming that Congress "nar-
rowly tailored" it so as to "avoid undue interference in the
parent-child relationship" in circumstances like this one where
the parent herself is not interested in maintaining such a rela-
tionship. Slip Op. 9.

Neither the majority, nor our sister Circuits have ever
squarely addressed this obvious incongruence or this exact
factual scenario. See, e.g., Barthelemy, 329 F.3d at 1064 (peti-
tioner’s mother abandoned him at birth, but had never for-
mally relinquished her rights); Lewis v. Gonzales, 481 F.3d
125, 126-27 (2d Cir. 2007) (petitioner immigrated to America
with his father at age thirteen, and mother never surrendered
her rights). In contrast to Barthelemy and Lewis, the issue of
24 JOHNSON v. WHITEHEAD
legal parental abandonment is squarely before us in the form
of undisputed documentation stating that, within a year of
Johnson’s birth, his mother ceded all of her parental rights
over him to his father.

Our only solution to this dilemma is to read the statute so
that it "raise[s] the rights of one parent," Johnson’s natural-
ized father, "above those of the other," the absconding alien
mother. Slip Op. 9; see also Sandoval v. Reno, 166 F.3d 225,
237 (3d Cir. 1999) (construing an immigration law to "avoid
serious constitutional problems"). Johnson’s father was the
only parent ever to claim any legal interest in him after he was
abandoned by his mother. His father then brought him to
America, naturalized himself, and raised Johnson in this coun-
try. Under the alternative reading of § 1432(a)(3), Johnson
would be allowed to show that he automatically became a citi-
zen because his mother effectuated a "legal separation" when
she gave up her parental rights. Because this separation did
not end an official marriage, Johnson would not have to show
that it was the result of a judicial proceeding as per Afeta v.
Gonzales, 467 F.3d 402, 408 (4th Cir. 2006). Like the other
exceptions to the general rule, this reading of § 1432(a)(3)
would allow a child to be granted automatic citizenship only
when one parent no longer has any legal interest in the child.2

I am also not convinced that § 1432(a)(3) is valid simply
because 8 U.S.C. § 1433 also provides a means for an unwed,
naturalized father to pass citizenship on to a child. Slip Op.
at 10; see also Lewis, 481 F.3d at 132 (noting that § 1433 "im-
poses only modest requirements, none of which mandates a
legal separation"). Because § 1433 does not provide for the
automatic naturalization of children in Johnson’s position, the
framework lauded by the majority still unconstitutionally
2
Indeed, it was probably because Johnson’s father was under the
impression that Johnson had gained American citizenship through his own
naturalization that led him to take no additional steps to secure such citi-
zenship for his son.
 JOHNSON v. WHITEHEAD 25
places more onerous burdens on the illegitimate children of a
naturalized parent. Specifically, it puts these burdens on the
children of unmarried fathers who, unlike those of unmarried
mothers, are not covered by the second clause of § 1432(a)(3),
which does allow a child to gain automatic citizenship upon
the mother’s naturalization. Cf. Cleveland Bd. of Educ. v.
LaFleur, 414 U.S. 632, 639-640 (1974) (recognizing that both
parents have a fundamental constitutional "freedom of per-
sonal choice in matters of marriage and family life").

Accordingly, although Johnson does not raise this issue, it
is evident that § 1432(a)(3) also permits sex discrimination.
By raising more hurdles to the naturalization of the children
of unmarried fathers than for those of the children of unmar-
ried mothers, the law distinguishes these children based solely
on the sex of their custodial parent. See Weinberger v.
Wiesenfeld, 420 U.S. 636, 652 (1975) ("It is no less important
for a child to be cared for by its sole . . . parent when that par-
ent is male rather than female."). In Nguyen and Miller,
§ 1409 survived heightened scrutiny because it was based in
part on actual biological differences between the sexes, and
the need to create a father-child bond; whereas, here, John-
son’s father continually claimed paternity of, supported, and
maintained custody over Johnson. Since I would find a legal
separation only in closely analogous situations, we would
never be faced with the questions of paternity at issue in
Nguyen and Miller.

The government has expressed no valid basis for raising
additional barriers for the children of unmarried fathers. See
Mississippi University for Woman v. Hogan, 458 U.S. 718,
724 (1982) ("[T]he party seeking to uphold a statute that clas-
sifies individuals on the basis of their gender must carry the
burden of showing an exceedingly persuasive justification for
the classification." (citations and internal quotations omit-
ted)). The law is unconstitutional because the government
cannot even show that the discriminatory means employed in
§ 1432 for pursuing its stated pseudo-interest, i.e., protecting
26 JOHNSON v. WHITEHEAD
the rights of the absconding alien mother, is sufficiently tai-
lored to achieve its ends. See Wengler v. Druggest Mut. Ins.
Co., 446 U.S. 142, 150 (1980) ("[T]he discriminatory means
employed must be substantially related to the achievement of
[important governmental] objectives."). Congress could have
made custody or support the relevant criterion for unmarried
fathers, in the same way it did for unmarried mothers, wid-
ows, widowers, and divorcees in § 1432(a). Instead, Congress
appears to have relied wholly on the invidious sex stereotype
that an unmarried father has less of an interest than an unmar-
ried mother in conferring citizenship to his child. See Plyler
v. Doe, 457 U.S. 202, 213 (1982) ("The Equal Protection
Clause was intended to work nothing less than the abolition
of all caste-based and invidious class-based legislation.").
Discriminatory laws should not be allowed to stand on such
undoubtedly fragile foundations.

Indeed, given the government’s failure to come up with any
sincere basis, rational or otherwise, for the distinction it draws
between legitimate and illegitimate children, as well as
between unmarried fathers and unmarried mothers, I have
serious doubts about whether § 1432 could withstand even
rational basis review. See City of Cleburne v. Cleburne Living
Center, Inc., 473 U.S. 432, 446 (1985) (holding that, even
under rational basis, a legislature "may not rely on a classifi-
cation whose relationship to an asserted goal is so attenuated
as to render the distinction arbitrary or irrational.").

Finally, although the courts lack the power to confer citi-
zenship, I.N.S v. Pangilinan, 486 U.S. 875, 884 (1988); 8
U.S.C. § 1421(a), we still must interpret the laws, even immi-
gration laws, so that they do not offend the Constitution. See
Crowell v. Benson, 285 U.S. 22, 62 (1932) (directing the
courts generally to "ascertain whether a construction of the
statute is fairly possible by which the [constitutional] question
may be avoided"); Sandoval, 166 F.3d at 237. Petitioner’s
interpretation would, in light of equal protection, transform
§ 1432(a)(3) into constitutionally acceptable legislation, and
 JOHNSON v. WHITEHEAD 27
provide for a statutorily sanctioned pathway for Johnson to
obtain citizenship. That interpretation of the statute, rather
than the Court itself, would then extend citizenship to John-
son. Cf. Nguyen, 533 U.S. at 71-72 (noting "that severance is
based on the assumption that Congress would have intended
the result," but declining to address this issue); but see Miller,
523 U.S. at 475 (Breyer, J., dissenting) (arguing that once an
unconstitutional clause is excised from an immigration stat-
ute, it can operate to confer citizenship).

III.

The government cannot show that the burden § 1432(a)(3)
places on a naturalized parent’s ability to automatically trans-
mit citizenship to his or her child born out-of-wedlock is sub-
stantially related to an important government interest. See
Clark, 486 U.S. at 461 ("[W]e have invalidated classifications
that burden illegitimate children for the sake of punishing the
illicit relations of their parents, because ‘visiting this condem-
nation on the head of an infant is illogical and unjust.’" (quot-
ing Weber v. Aetna Casualty & Surety Co., 406 U.S. 164, 175
(1972)). By limiting the definition of "legal separation" in
§ 1432(a)(3) to a divorce, the majority fails to remove these
unconstitutional elements from the statute. I would read
§ 1432(a)(3) more flexibly so that, where an alien mother has
abandoned her parental rights to a father, there has also been
a legal separation. I would then find that Johnson automati-
cally became a United States citizen upon the naturalization
of his father. Only this reading would allow the statute to sur-
vive the heightened scrutiny review required by the Fifth
Amendment and Supreme Court precedent.

For these reasons, I must dissent.