Misrepresentation & Eligibility

It was posted in another thread that falsely claiming citizenship can make a person ineligible from ever adjusting status. I always thought that it would make no difference whether you claim permanent residence or citizenship; a false statement is a false statement and therefore the consequences, if any, would be equivalent. But as far as immigration law, that does not appear to be true. Clause (ii) of paragraph (6)(C) of section 212(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act states that a person is inadmissible by falsely claiming citizenship. Now how many people actually checked "citizen" on a college application because if you put down "permanent resident" they'd ask you for a copy of your green card? Not that I encourage anyone to do so, especially now that our situations may change.

However, most importantly, the current version of the Dream Act (Sec. 4(a)(1)(C)(i)) states that a person is eligible if they are not inadmissible under paragraph (2), (3), (6)(E), or (10)(C) of section 212(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. Paragraph (6)(C), the one that deals with misrepresentation, is not included as basis for ineligibility.

The following are the only parts of the inadmissibility section of current immigration law that would make someone ineligible for the Dream Act:

(2) Criminal and related grounds (convictions, etc.)
(3) Security and related grounds (terrorism, etc.)
(6)(E) Smugglers
(10)(C) International child abduction

As far as I can tell, misrepresentation, even if that includes claiming citizenship, does not make you ineligible for the Dream Act. Am I correct?

yes some of the members here are taking things out of proportion.

Technically, I do believe you are correct. I looked up the text of the Dream Act, and it indeed does not mention Paragraph (6)(C) of Scetion 212(a) that deals with falsely claiming citizenship. I looked up the Immigration & Nationality Act also, and I think they may not have included it because so many of us I know did not realize we were illegal, or at least the ramification of being illegal, until we were nearing the end of high school, so if we had prior claimed to be citizens, some truly might have thought they were, and that is a weak basis of the only exception to Paragraoh (6)(C) of the ING(below). That, or they just plumb forgot, or they knowingly left it out. Either way, that should not encourage anyone to take that as free license to falsely claim citizenship etc etc just based on this thread

"Under the new INA §212(a)(6)(C)(ii), any alien who falsely represents, or has falsely represented, himself or herself to be a citizen of the United States for any purpose or benefit under the INA or any other Federal or State law is excludable. [This provision is applicable to representations made on or after September 30, 1996.] The immigrant waiver described above does not apply to this ground.

There is only one exception to INA §212(a)(6)(C)(ii), which was implemented by the Child Citizenship Act of 2000 ("CCA"). In the case of an alien making such a representation, if:

Each natural parent of the alien (or, in the case of an adopted alien, each adoptive parent of the alien) is or was a citizen (whether by birth or naturalization);

The alien permanently resided in the United States prior to attaining the age of 16; and

The alien reasonably believed at the time of making such representation that he or she was a citizen;

the alien shall not be considered to be inadmissible under any provision of this subsection based on such representation. "

double post lol, my bads

Yeah this is probably true. I only asked in that other thread cause i saw some article saying if you did claim citizenship that but i guess since its not in the dream act, it wouldnt apply.
Thanks for doing research and finding this, makes things a lot clearer.

im sure when they debate dream they will make a bunch of waivers for this kinda porpuses including others so, for example when they were debating the CIR they were going to let gang members get the benifit as long as they said their no longer in a gang!?

Perchance is correct.

However, there is some degree of ambiguity when it comes to states determining which people living in that particular state is a resident. For instance, in florida, a resident is considered one who has :

- Enrolled your children in public school, or
- Register to vote, or
- File for a homestead exemption, or
- Accept employment, or
- Reside in Florida for more than six consecutive months.

That is according to the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. Yet, and undocumented person can not obtain a driver license or identification card by simply being a resident. Ambiguous.

Now, with that being said, a student applying to instate colleges may find it confusing on parts that may require you to claim residency. In such cases, it is best to play it safe and do not make such claims. Claiming citizenship should never be done in such cases. As with falsely claiming residency, one may allude to the false fact that they are entitled to instate benefits.

By not claiming residency, you would then be considered an international student in some cases and still be able to get your application through.

However, I highly doubt you would be disqualified from the DREAM Act for doing so.

Colleges/Universities are not USCIS and thus do not police their students like the USCIS. They just want your money. Then they are happy.

Very nicely put.