Citizenship denied based on lack of good moral character

[cheekuji]

My mom applied for citizenship and cleared the interview. Got her her N-652 saying that she passed the interview but needs to send in tax papers/residence proof and copies of passport within 30 days. We send in the papers and never hear back from the immigration office for the letter of oath. Finally two days ago after repeated inquiries and personal visit to the local office we get to know that she has been denied citizenship based on lack of good moral characters. It also says that she didn't bring in some the criminal identification record number. She has never been involved in any crime. Not sure how the came up with this.
Here are the sequence of events:
1. N-400 application date: 4/12/2006
2. Fingerprints date: 11/21/06
3. N-400 Interview Date: 10/01/2007 ( interview cleared and we were told to submit tax records/address proof/passport copies by 11/1/07)
4. Documents sent on the 10/15/07 and ins received it on 10/17/07.
5. We went to the office 11/06/07 and were told that it will take 3-6 months to get a response there is a lot of back log.
6. Called NSC on 04/28/08 and was told that a response will be sent by 05/28/08
7. Called back again on 05/28/08 and was told that a response will sent soon.
8. Met the immigration officer on 06/13/08 and was told that the case was denied and a notice was sent on 11/13/07. He told us that the file was sent back to the Missouri center on the 06/12/08 and he didn't have access to the file and couldn't tell us the denial reason. He promised to get the details after calling the NSC office in Missouri and let us know what the details are.
9. Called the NSC on 06/13/08 and requested another status inquiry
10. Received a notice of denial on 06/14/08.
It says that we did not provide a California Dept.of justice, bureau of criminal identification record .. not sure what this is .

We never got the denial letter on time. The copy of denial notice that we got two days ago is dated 11/13/07 and we were supposed to file any appeal within 30 days.
What can we do now? What I don't understand is that all they wanted was tax/proof of address and passport copies. Where did this criminal record and lack of moral character come in? I believe that they have made a mistake in making the decision.
Any help is appreciated

[Ron Gotcher]

First, get your Senator/Congressman involved. It looks like the CIS made a serious mistake. Second, if that doesn't produce results, hire a lawyer and sue them.

[cheekuji]

First, get your Senator/Congressman involved. It looks like the CIS made a serious mistake. Second, if that doesn't produce results, hire a lawyer and sue them.

Called the congressman's office. They said they couldn't help us because the case has been denied and we didn't file the appeal on time. We never received the letter. Do they notify the denial via regular mail? I thought since it is important they would be sending certified mail etc.

Now I thinking of setting up any appointment with the Immigration Officer and finding a way to file an appeal or figure out the actual deal.

Since we never filed an appeal do we still get a chance to petition in court.
Normally how much would that cost? Any vague idea?

[mukrajat]

A follow-up question I had based on this case is, if the citizenship application has been denied, what is the status of the green card holder?

1) Would they still remain a GC holder?

2) If the GC is still good, would the denial of citizenship affect renewal of the GC?

[Ron Gotcher]

The green card is still good unless and until they initiate a special proceeding to do something about it. As far as what you can do now, consult attorneys in your area to see what they can do for you. You need someone in your area because they will need to make appearances in federal court. The good news is that you can recover all of your costs and a good part of your attorneys fees through the Equal Access to Justice Act if you prevail.

[cheekuji]

I just got back from the local ins office. Apparently they have sent the file back to the national service center and they have put a request to get it back when it reaches there. I spoke with the supervisor and since she didn't have the file in front of her she couldn't give me an answer on why the case has been denied. But when she looked at the N-652 and the denial letter she felt that my concern was justified as the reasoning on the denial letter and the wr-822 (required documents to submit) were totally different.
My concern now is that the Immigration Officer I met 2 weeks ago had forgot to put in the request to get the file back. He took all our info again today but said that he could request it back only when the file reaches the office. He wants me to check back after 60 days. Now is there a way I could make sure that he puts in the request. I just don't want to go to the office after 60 days just to be told that he forgot to put in the request.
Any superiors that I could write too?

[Ron Gotcher]

There isn't much that you can do to verify that he did it, other than check back in 60 days. Also, trying to do so might just tick him off so that he doesn't put it in.