The Third Circuit reversed the District Court’s award of summary judgment to the Government. Jaffal filed an N-600 Application for Certificate of Citizenship, seeking derivative U.S. citizenship through his father. USCIS denied the application and his subsequent Motion to Reopen. Jaffal then brought this action seeking a declaratory judgment under 8 U.S.C. § 1503(a) that he was entitled to derivative citizenship under 8 U.S.C. § 1432(a). The Government filed a motion for summary judgment. Jaffal presented evidence to the District Court that he was in the sole legal custody of his father when his father was naturalized and his parents were separated. Nonetheless, the District Court granted the Government’s motion. The Third Circuit reversed and ruled that the District Court erred when it did not accept evidence of Jaffal’s parents’ divorce. Therefore, the Third Circuit remanded “with instructions to issue a judgment declaring Jaffal to be a national of the United States.”
