PRECEDENTIAL UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT _________ No: 18-2192 __________ EDWIN RAFAEL CEPEDA CABRERA, Petitioner v. ATTORNEY GENERAL UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Respondent On Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals Immigration Judge: Honorable John P. Ellington (BIA-1 : A041-745-875) Argued on February 6, 2019 (Opinion filed: April 19, 2019) Before: HARDIMAN, SCIRICA and RENDELL, Circuit Judges Raymond G. Lahoud (ARGUED) Norris, McLaughlin & Marcus 515 West Hamilton Street Suite 502 Allentown, PA 18101 Counsel for Petitioner Stephanie E. Beckett (ARGUED) United States Department of Justice Office of Immigration Litigation P. O. Box 878 Ben Franklin Station Washington, DC 20044 Counsel for Respondent ___________ OPINION RENDELL, Circuit Judge: Edwin Rafael Cepeda Cabrera was born in the Dominican Republic in 1979 and admitted to the United States as a lawful permanent resident in 1988. Two years later, he was adopted by a natural born U.S. citizen, Randolph Benn Attenborough. Had he been Attenborough’s biological child, then Section 309 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (“INA”), 8 U.S.C. § 1409, would have provided him a pathway to obtain automatic derivative citizenship. But since he is an adopted child, the 2 statute does not apply to him and his road to citizenship is more arduous. In his view, this disparate treatment between adopted and biological children violates the guarantee of equal protec- tion under the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process Clause. We disagree and will deny his petition for review. Cabrera advances his equal protection claim in an effort to stop his removal from the United States. He was still law- fully residing in the United States in 2014 when he pled guilty to federal charges of conspiracy to possess with intent to dis- tribute heroin and was sentenced to 36 months’ imprisonment. Upon his release, Cabrera was served with a Notice to Appear for removal proceedings. This Notice leveled two charges of removability: his conviction of an aggravated felony, 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(2)(A)(iii), and his conviction of a controlled sub- stance offense, id. § 1227(a)(2)(B)(i). In response, Cabrera disputed the factual allegation made in the Notice to Appear that he was not a U.S. citizen. 1 He argued, on constitutional grounds, that he was entitled to derivative citizenship through his adoptive father and, because he was entitled to U.S. citizen- ship, he could not be removed. The Immigration Judge held that he lacked jurisdiction to hear this constitutional claim and ordered Cabrera removed to the Dominican Republic. The Board of Immigration Appeals affirmed the IJ’s order. Cabrera then filed this petition for review. 2 1 Apart from his removal proceedings, Cabrera also made claims for citizenship in two Applications for Certification of Citizenship (“Form N-600”) with the U.S. Citizenship and Im- migration Services (“USCIS”). USCIS denied both of his Form N-600 applications. 2 We have jurisdiction to review constitutional claims raised in a petition for review pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(2)(D). We 3 When reviewing citizenship claims, we apply the laws that were ...
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