The United States Supreme Court , on Monday, ruled 5-4 against an Indian citizen who faces deportation from the country for ticking a box on driver’s license application form stating he was a U.S. citizen.
The petitioner, Pankajkumar Patel , had entered the U.S. illegally with his wife, Jyotsnaben, in the 1990s, according to court documents. He had applied to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) for discretionary ‘adjustment of status’ ( a step in the green card process) in 2007. USCIS had denied his adjustment application for permanent residence (i.e., a green card) because it was aware that Mr. Patel had falsely stated he was a U.S. citizen on a driver’s license application in the state of Georgia.
The court documents say that the U.S. government started removal proceedings against Mr. Patel years after this. Mr. Patel argued, unsuccessfully, before an immigration judge that he had mistakenly ticked the form and therefore did not violate the law. The judge disagreed. Mr. Patel then appealed the decision with the Board of Immigration Appeals and lost. He then approached a federal appeals court ( the Eleventh Circuit) which ruled that it did not have jurisdiction in the case, saying the law did not allow federal courts to review facts discovered during a discretionary-relief proceeding.
