Wife’s Adultery Cheats Legal Resident in His Application for U.S. Citizenship

A federal agency denied a suburban Chandler immigrant citizenship on grounds of adultery. Problem is, he says, that was his wife’s.

Rafael Pacheco, a legal resident, applied for U.S. citizenship in 1996, submitting all fingerprints and paperwork and passing his history, Constitution and English tests.

However, the Immigration and Naturalization Service declared in August that Pacheco was unfit to become a citizen because he lacked “good moral character.”

The agency pointed to the 1993 divorce decree, submitted as part of his application, that lists adultery as the cause of the breakup. “It was her adultery,” the 41-year-old landscaper said Thursday after an INS hearing to contest the denial.

Pacheco immigrated from Mexico at age 15. FBI and police department background checks submitted for his application show a clean record.

The divorce complaint filed by his former wife in Gila River Indian Community Court alleges “excesses, cruel treatment or outrages” during their 10-year marriage.

Court records show that she did not appear for the divorce proceeding during which Pacheco accused her of adultery. He submitted a sworn statement from her adult son saying she had taken up with an old boyfriend.

The decree lists adultery as the only ground for granting him a divorce from her.

Pacheco said the hearing officer is requiring court verification that the adultery finding was against the woman.

That will require a new hearing in tribal court on the meaning of the 8-year-old decree.

If Pacheco cannot produce court verification of his account within 30 days, he will have to start all over with his citizenship application. He said he already has invested nearly $1,000 in attorney and filing fees.

“After five years, it’s hard to keep going,” Pacheco said.

INS official Russell Ahr did not respond to requests for comment after the hearing. Earlier he had said that for a citizenship application to take five years was rare.