UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA ____________________________________ ) GERALD LEE FARRELL, ) ) Plaintiff, ) ) v. ) Civil Action No. 17-490 (RBW) ) REX W. TILLERSON, in his official ) capacity as Secretary of State of the ) United States, et al., ) ) Defendants. ) ____________________________________) MEMORANDUM OPINION The pro se plaintiff, Gerald Lee Farrell, brings this civil action against the defendants, Rex W. Tillerson, the Secretary of the United States Department of State (the “Secretary”) and Corrin Ferber, Director of the Office of Legal Affairs, Bureau of Consular Affairs of the United States Department of State (“the Department”), alleging that the defendants’ denial of his request for a Certificate of Loss of Nationality violated the Immigration and Nationality Act (“INA”), 8 U.S.C. §§ 1101–1537 (2012), 18 U.S.C. § 1429 (2012), and the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”), 5 U.S.C. §§ 701–706 (2012). See generally Amended Complaint (“Am. Compl.”). Currently before the Court is the Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss (“Defs.’ Mot.”), which seeks dismissal of the plaintiff’s amended complaint pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6); the Defendants’ Motion for Relief from Local Civil Rule 7(n) (“Defs.’ Rule 7(n) Mot.”); and the plaintiff’s Motion for Summary Judgment (“Pl.’s Mot.”). Upon consideration of the parties’ submissions, 1 the Court concludes that it must deny the defendants’ motion to 1 In addition to the filings already identified, the Court considered the following submissions in rendering its decision: (1) the Memorandum of Points and Authorities in Support of Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss (“Defs.’ (continued . . . ) dismiss, deny as moot the defendants’ motion for relief from Local Civil Rule 7(n), and order the defendant to respond to the plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment. I. BACKGROUND A. Statutory and Regulatory Framework Section 349 of the INA provides that “a national of the United States whether by birth or naturalization, shall lose his nationality by voluntarily performing any [one] of [seven] acts with the intention of relinquishing United States nationality.” 8 U.S.C. § 1481(a). These acts are codified as subsections (a)(1) through (a)(7) of 8 U.S.C. § 1481. With regards to subsections (a)(1) through (a)(5), the statute provides that “no national of the United States can lose United States nationality . . . while within the United States . . . .” Id. § 1483(a). At issue in this case is subsection (a)(1), which provides that an individual “shall lose his nationality by voluntarily . . . [, and] with the intention of relinquishing United States nationality[,] . . . obtaining naturalization in a foreign state upon his own application or upon an application filed by a duly authorized agent, after having attained the age of eighteen years.” 8 U.S.C. § 1481(a)(1). 2 Under the INA, [w]henever a diplomatic or consular officer of the United States has reason to believe that a person while in a foreign state has lost his United States nationality under [8 U.S.C. § 1481] . . . , he shall certify the facts ...
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