UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA PAUL ECCLESTON JACKSON, Petitioner, v. Civil Action No. 18-26 (JEB) ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES, Respondent. MEMORANDUM OPINION This immigration and citizenship controversy hinges on one very simple question: who is Petitioner Paul Jackson’s biological father? Would that the answer were so easily found. Three years ago, the Board of Immigration Appeals ordered the Jamaican-born Jackson’s removal from this county. He petitioned a federal appellate court for judicial review of that order, maintaining that he could not be deported because he is a U.S. citizen. More specifically, Petitioner alleged that he acquired citizenship via his putative American father — Herbert Jackson. The appellate court found that there were genuine issues of material facts as to Paul’s citizenship status, and the case has made its way here for de novo consideration of that issue. Following about a year and a half of discovery, he now moves for summary judgment on his citizenship claim or, in the alternative, for partial summary judgment on several elements of that claim. In rejoinder, the Government chiefly contends that the identity of Petitioner’s natural father remains in dispute. Having combed through the record, the Court concludes that Paul has satisfied all but one part of his claim — that is, biological paternity. For that reason, it will grant only partial summary judgment and require a trial to finally determine Petitioner’s true lineage. 1 I. Background To set the stage, the Court begins by laying out the uncontested facts bearing on Petitioner’s progenitors before turning to those in dispute. It will then offer a few words on this case’s procedural history. A. Factual History Upon multiple facts do the parties agree. In October 1967, Eupheme Finlayson gave birth to Petitioner in Kingston, Jamaica. See ECF No. 25 (Appendix Volume II) at RESP624– 25. She filled out a “Birth Registration Form” by hand, leaving blank the lines designated for the names of the child and the father. Id. at RESP624. Later that month, she amended the form and named the child “Paul Eccleston Matthews.” Id. She did not, however, enter a name for the child’s father. Id. After a few months passed, in March 1968, she filed a summons in her country, seeking child support for the newborn and other relief from a Jamaican man named Fahrin Matthews. Id. at RESP106. That summons was dismissed for lack of jurisdiction. Id. at RESP102–12. Before the end of the year, in November 1968, Eupheme came to the U.S. as a legal permanent resident, leaving her infant son with her relatives in Jamaica. Id. at RESP21–22, 27–28; see ECF No. 26 (Appendix Volume III) (Deposition of Paul Jackson) at 34–37. Within three years of arriving in this country, in 1971, Eupheme married Herbert Jackson — an American citizen — in Maryland. See Vol. II at RESP12, 16; ECF No. 24 (Appendix Volume I) at PET1. Two years later, the couple moved to Jamaica. See ECF No. 31- 2 (Resp. Statement of ...
Original document
Source: All recent Immigration Decisions In All the U.S. Courts of Appeals