Kajtazi v. INS, ___ F. Supp. 3d ___, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 24173 (D.N.J. Oct. 14, 2005) (federal habeas petition granted under 28 U.S.C. 2241 challenging an INS detainer on the ground that Petitioner acquired derivative United States citizenship on July 31, 1985, when his father naturalized).

United States citizenship of the respondent can be raised as a defense to removal. Murphy v. INS, 54 F.3d 605, 610 (9th Cir. 1995). The government bears the heavy burden of proving alienage through "clear, unequivocal, and convincing evidence."  Scales v. INS, 232 F.3d 1159, 1163 (9th Cir. 2000) (quoting Woodby v. INS, 385 U.S. 276, 277 (1966)); see also Lopez-Urenda v. Ashcroft, 345 F.3d 788, 795 (9th Cir. 2003) (citations omitted); 8 U.S.C.

Morgan v. Attorney General, ___ F.3d ___, 2005 WL 3481443 (3d Cir. Dec. 21, 2005) (petition for review of derivative citizenship claim under 8 U.S.C. 1432(a)(3) denied on merits, because petitioner cannot establish that her parents were legally separated at the time her mother was naturalized).

Tovar-Alvarez v. U.S.Attorney General, ___ F.3d ___, 2005 WL 2561503 (11th Cir. Oct. 13, 2005) ("Though 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(22) states that a person is a "national of the United States" if he owes "permanent allegiance to the United States," the manner in which one comes to owe allegiance to the United States is through birth or naturalization pursuant to the statutory scheme enacted by Congress, see 8 U.S.C. 1401-1409, 1421-1458. Sebastian-Soler, 409 F.3d at 1286. Moreover in Sebastian-Soler, we specifically rejected the Fourth Circuit's reasoning in Morin. 409 F.3d at 1287.

Tovar-Alvarez v. U.S.Attorney General, ___ F.3d ___, 2005 WL 2561503 (11th Cir. Oct. 13, 2005) (noncitizen must participate in public citizenship ceremony in order to fully naturalize).

Theagene v. Gonzales, __ F.3d __, 2005 WL 1398833 (9th Cir. June 15, 2005) ("Because only an "alien" may be required to exhaust administrative remedies under 1252(d)(1), the plain language of 1252(b)(5) requires that upon a petition for review of the BIA's final order of removal, we must evaluate a petitioner's claim to United States nationality regardless of whether the claim was raised below.").

Perez-Enriquez v. Gonzalez, __ F.3d __, 2005 WL 1389114 (9th Cir.

United States v. John, 936 F.2d 764 (3d Cir. 1991) (Virgin Islands conviction constitutes a conviction "under federal or state law" for purposes of enhancing a federal sentence).

United States v. Thomas, 361 F.3d 653 (D.C. Cir. 2004) (District of Columbia conviction constitutes a conviction "under federal or state law" for purposes of enhancing a federal sentence); see United States v. Torres-Rosa, 209 F.3d 4 (1st Cir. 2000); United States v. Morales-Diaz, 925 F.2d 535 (1st Cir. 1991).

Means v. Navajo Nation, __ F.3d __ (9th Cir. August 23, 2005) (indian tribe may exercise inherent sovereign judicial power in criminal cases against nonmember indians for crimes committed on the tribe's reservation)