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).

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).

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.

State v. Aquino, ___ Conn. ___, ___ n.1, 2005 Conn. App. LEXIS 226 (Conn. App. June 7, 2005) ("Under North Carolina v. Alford, 400 U.S. 25, 91 S. Ct. 160, 27 L. Ed. 2d 162 (1970), a criminal defendant is not required to admit his guilt, but consents to being punished as if he were guilty to avoid the risk of proceeding to trial. . . .

Matter of Marroquin, 23 I. & N. Dec. 705 (AG Jan. 18, 2005) ("This definition [of conviction, under INA 101(a)(48)(A), 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(48)(A)], though broad, is clearly not intended to encompass convictions that have been formally entered but subsequently reversed on appeal or in a collateral proceeding for reasons pertaining to the factual basis for, or procedural validity of, the underlying judgment. Cf. In re P-, 9 I&N Dec. 293 (A.G.

United States v. Valerio, __ F.3d __ (9th Cir. Mar. 28, 2006) (federal conviction for being a felon in possession of a firearm is affirmed despite the claim that he was not a convicted felon at all, because his deferred imposition of sentence and subsequent discharge under state law invalidated that status).