24464: Hermantin ( NewsAppeals court rejects bid by Haitian-American to keep his citize (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Posted on Tue, Mar. 08, 2005



Appeals court rejects bid by Haitian-American to keep his citizenship

By ALFONSO CHARDY
achardy@herald.com

A federal appellate court has denied a motion to reopen the case of a
Haitian-American man from Miami whose citizenship the government wants to
revoke because he allegedly committed a drug-trafficking crime before
becoming an American.

Lionel Jean-Baptiste's attorney, Andre Pierre, said Tuesday he plans to turn
to the U.S. Supreme Court to prevent his client from losing his citizenship
and preempt his deportation. Pierre said he has three months to file an
appeal to the high court.

A panel from the U.S. 11th Circuit of Appeals in Atlanta had previously
rejected Jean-Baptiste's appeal, but he asked for a rehearing by the entire
court. That appeal was denied Friday.

If the U.S. Supreme Court takes the case, the key issue will be whether the
government can revoke the citizenship of a naturalized citizen who committed
a crime before taking the oath of allegiance, but was not convicted until
afterward.

The case departs from the norm in citizenship revocations that generally
arise from the naturalized citizen being caught in a lie in his application.

Jean-Baptiste's case is believed to be the first in which the government is
seeking to strip a naturalized citizen of his citizenship for a criminal
conviction as a citizen.