Man born in NY not a citizen because his dad was a diplomat: court

A federal appeals court has ruled that a man born in New York 75 years ago is not entitled to US birthright citizenship because his father held diplomatic immunity at the time of his birth.

On Wednesday, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals determined that despite the government having “repeatedly recognized” Roberto Moncada as a US citizen for decades, this recognition was an error. “As inequitable as this result is, courts lack the equitable power to remedy the government’s errors by granting Moncada citizenship,” Judge Anthony D. Johnstone wrote.

Moncada was born in 1950 while his father worked for Nicaragua’s permanent mission to the United Nations. He has argued that the government “repeatedly affirmed” his father’s role as a consul, a position that would not grant diplomatic immunity to his children and would have provided Moncada with birthright citizenship, per Bloomberg Law.

In 2018, however, the US government reviewed his father’s diplomatic status and determined he had been serving as an attaché when Moncada was born, a role that holds diplomatic immunity that extends to children. The government revoked Moncada’s passport and informed him he was not a US citizen, prompting him to sue.

Moncada presented evidence, including his birth certificate, which listed his father as a “Deputy Consul.” But a 1950 UN document showed his father listed as both consul and attaché. The government also produced a 2020 certification stating Moncada’s family held diplomatic immunity.

According to Bloomberg Law, the Ninth Circuit rejected the government’s argument that the certification was conclusive, citing conflicting evidence about whether the president had formally received Moncada’s father as a diplomat. Still, the panel concluded that “on the record before it, the district court did not clearly err in finding that Dr. Moncada held diplomatic immunity when his son was born.”

The ruling comes as the Trump administration faces ongoing legal challenges to an executive order signed by the president that denies birthright citizenship to children of noncitizens born in the United States.