Published on: Saturday, February 15, 2025
Under federal law, a child born outside of the United States to non-citizen parents gains automatic U.S. citizenship upon "[t]he naturalization of the parent having legal custody of the child when there has been a legal separation of the parents," as long as the child is under 18 and has a green card at the time of the naturalization. But what if the legally separated parents remarry before the naturalization? Eleventh Circuit (Judge Aileen Cannon, sitting by designation): Doesn't count. Dissent: Where's that in the statute?
The case is Sheldon Turner v. U.S. Attorney General, 22-11207 (11th Cir. 2025).