The U.S. State Department cannot revoke the citizenship it mistakenly granted 22 years ago to a native of Yemen, a federal magistrate judge has ruled, raising the man’s hopes that he finally will be able to bring his two children to safety in the United States from that violent corner of the Middle East.
Southern District Magistrate Judge James Francis IV (See Profile) rejected the government’s attempt to invoke the Immigration and Nationality Technical Corrections Act of 1994 (8 U.S.C. §1504) to challenge the citizenship of Abdo Hizam. That law allows the revocation of a passport based on fraud, misrepresentation “or some other exceptional grounds.” But Francis pointed out it was enacted four years after Hizam became a citizen.
