Reported / Citable
Background
Adebayo Ademola, a Nigerian citizen and lawful permanent resident, pleaded guilty shortly after obtaining that status to willfully and knowingly using a forged or counterfeit Nigerian passport to open a bank account, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1543.
Authorities later detained Ademola when he returned from an international trip. The Department of Homeland Security charged him as inadmissible based on a conviction for a crime involving moral turpitude. An immigration judge sustained the charge and ordered him removed to Nigeria, and the Board of Immigration Appeals affirmed. Ademola petitioned the Fifth Circuit for review, arguing that false use of a passport is not a crime involving moral turpitude.
The Court’s Holding
The Fifth Circuit denied the petition. Applying de novo review after Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, the court independently interpreted the statutory phrase “crime involving moral turpitude” and concluded that, at minimum, it includes crimes having fraud as an ingredient.
Using the categorical approach, the court held that every form of conduct covered by the applicable portion of § 1543 is inherently fraudulent or deceitful. Knowing use of a false, forged, counterfeit, mutilated, or altered passport involves presenting a document that is not what it purports to be. The same is true of knowingly using a once-valid passport that has become void: doing so misuses the issuing sovereign’s property and falsely invokes the sovereign’s official introduction of the bearer. Section 1543 therefore categorically defines a crime involving moral turpitude.
Key Takeaways
- After Loper Bright, the Fifth Circuit independently interprets “crime involving moral turpitude” rather than deferring to the Board of Immigration Appeals.
- The categorical inquiry turns on the least conduct criminalized by the statute, not on the particular fraud Ademola committed.
- Willfully and knowingly using any passport covered by the relevant portion of 18 U.S.C. § 1543—including a validly issued passport that has become void—is categorically a crime involving moral turpitude.
Why It Matters
The decision confirms that a § 1543 false-passport conviction can make a returning lawful permanent resident subject to admission requirements and inadmissibility as a person convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude. It also illustrates how the Fifth Circuit will conduct its own statutory analysis of that immigration-law category after the end of Chevron deference.