19-3133 Alzokari v. Pompeo UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT ______________ August Term 2019 (Argued: April 24, 2020 | Decided: August 26, 2020) Docket No. 19-3133 AHMED ALI ALZOKARI, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. MICHAEL POMPEO, CARL C. RISCH, RACHEL ARNDT, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF STATE Defendants-Appellees. † ______________ Before: CALABRESI, WESLEY, BIANCO, Circuit Judges. Plaintiff-Appellant Ahmed Ali Alzokari appeals the dismissal of his Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”) action challenging the United States Department of State’s (the “Department”) revocation of his passport. Alzokari was born in Yemen and naturalized as a United States citizen in 1979 under the name “Ahmed Ali Alzokari.” Since 1979, he has used that name in each of his United States passport applications. †The Clerk of Court is directed to amend the caption as set forth above. Under Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 43(c)(2), Deputy Assistant Secretary Rachel Arndt is substituted for former Deputy Assistant Secretary Brenda Sprague. In 2013, Alzokari visited the United States embassy in Sana’a, Yemen, to obtain a consular report of birth abroad for a child he claimed to be his son. Suspecting fraud, embassy officials detained Alzokari for several hours. Following an interrogation, Alzokari signed a statement declaring, inter alia, that his true name was not “Ahmed Ali Alzokari.” Based only on that statement, the Department revoked Alzokari’s passport, concluding it was fraudulently obtained. Alzokari requested an administrative hearing to challenge the Department’s decision. The Deputy Assistant Secretary for Passport Services upheld the passport revocation and Alzokari subsequently commenced this action, arguing that his passport revocation violated the APA and his Fifth Amendment Due Process rights. The United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York (Cogan, J.) dismissed Alzokari’s complaint, determining that the revocation of Alzokari’s passport was neither arbitrary nor capricious, and did not violate Due Process. Because we find that Alzokari could not have fraudulently obtained his passport by using the name and birthdate listed on his certificate of naturalization in his application, we REVERSE the district court’s decision, REVERSE the Department’s final decision upholding the passport revocation, and ORDER the Department to return Alzokari’s expired passport so that he may apply for a new United States passport if he so chooses. _________________ JAN H. BROWN, Law Offices of Jan H. Brown, P.C., New York, NY, for Plaintiff-Appellant. JOSEPH A. MARUTOLLO, Assistant United States Attorney (Varuni Nelson, Assistant United States Attorney, on the brief), for Seth D. DuCharme, Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, New York, NY, for Defendants-Appellees. _________________ 2 WESLEY, Circuit Judge: Plaintiff-Appellant Ahmed Ali Alzokari challenges the United States Department of State’s (the “Department”) revocation of his passport. Alzokari was born in Yemen and naturalized as a United States citizen in 1979 under the name “Ahmed Ali Alzokari.” Since 1979, he has used that name in each of his United States passport applications. During a 2013 visit to the United States embassy in Sana’a, Yemen, to obtain a consular report of birth abroad for a child he claimed ...
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