UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA AMIRA GONZALEZ BOISSON, Plaintiff, v. Civil No. 19-2105 (JDB) MICHAEL R. POMPEO, Secretary, U.S. Department of State, in his official capacity, Defendant. MEMORANDUM OPINION In 2019, the State Department revoked plaintiff Amira Gonzalez Boisson’s U.S. passport, citing a newly discovered irregularity in a document submitted in support of her passport application that called into question whether she is a U.S. citizen. Gonzalez Boisson brought this action against the Secretary of State (“the government”) under the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”) and the U.S. Constitution, seeking from the Court (1) a declaration that she is a citizen and national of the United States; and (2) declarations that the government’s pre- and post- revocation procedures violated the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment. Now before the Court is the government’s motion to dismiss. For the reasons stated below, the Court will grant the motion as to the Due Process Clause claim but deny it as to the APA claim. Background In 1970, when Gonzalez Boisson was born, 1 U.S. immigration and nationality law provided that persons born outside of the United States to one U.S. citizen parent and one foreign national parent are themselves citizens of the United States if, prior to their birth, the U.S. citizen parent 1 “Citizenship of a person born abroad is determined by law in effect at the time of birth.” Hizam v. Kerry, 747 F.3d 102, 105 (2d Cir. 2014); see also Sessions v. Morales-Santana, 137 S. Ct. 1678, 1686–87 & n.2 (2017) (same). 1 “was physically present in the United States . . . for a period or periods totaling not less than ten years, at least five of which were after attaining the age of fourteen years.” 8 U.S.C. § 1401(a)(7) (1970). Gonzalez Boisson claims to be a citizen under this provision, through her U.S. citizen mother, Denise Boisson (“Denise”). According to the allegations in Gonzalez Boisson’s complaint, which the Court must assume to be true for purposes of a motion to dismiss, Denise was born in the United States on May 20, 1946, in San Diego, California, and is therefore a U.S. citizen. Compl. for Declaratory Relief (“Compl.”) [ECF No. 1] ¶ 7; Ex. 1 to Mot. to Dismiss (“Revocation Letter”) [ECF No. 12- 2], at 1. Denise resided in San Diego until she was seven, when she moved to Mexico. Compl. ¶ 8. She remained there for several years, eventually returning to the United States in August 1959, at age thirteen. Id. ¶¶ 8–9. She then lived in San Diego for six years, until the summer of 1965, when she married a Mexican citizen and moved back to Mexico. Id. ¶ 12. Between 1965 and 1970, Denise visited family in San Diego for two months each summer, except in 1966, when she visited for only one month. Id. ¶¶ 13–15. On October 16, 1970, in Mexico, Denise gave birth to plaintiff Gonzalez Boisson. Id. ¶¶ 5, 18. The complaint alleges that, by that ...
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