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Old-fashioned (and since amended) statute from 1952 makes immigrant children citizens if they are born out of wedlock, their mother naturalizes, and the "paternity of the child has not been established by legitimation." Did that apply if the unwed father had signed the birth certificate? Fourth Circuit: Yes, signing a birth certificate is not a process of "legitimation," so this immigrant is indeed a citizen and hence not deportable. We do not care if El Salvador modernized its law of legitimacy before Congress; this is America, and here we follow American law and play football with our hands.
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