I have a suspicious mind. This case smells of immigration fraud. Ashok and Bakula are American citizens. How did it come to pass that this baby was born to them in India? Did they present evidence of the mother's pregnancy, or of delivery to her in a hospital in India? (What is the source of that "birth certificate"?)
Skip the sincerity and burden questions -- the government has a compelling interest in not allowing foreign-born children, whose biological parents are not U.S. citizens, to be smuggled into the U.S. under claims of being born to U.S. citizen parents whose swami has conveniently told them "no testing allowed." On Fri, Dec 7, 2012 at 11:02 PM, Volokh, Eugene <vol...@law.ucla.edu> wrote: > From *S.T. v. Napolitano, *2012 WL 6048222 (S.D. Tex. Dec. 5):**** > > ** ** > > S.T. is a citizen of India. He is currently eleven years old. Bakula and > Ashok Trivedi are both natives of India. Ashok became a United States > citizen in 1997; Bakula became a citizen in 1995. **** > > ** ** > > Bakula and Ashok Trivedi practice the Swaminarayan religion. They believe > they are required to follow their swami's religious instruction fully and > completely. About a year before S.T.'s birth in 2001, their swami told them > they would soon have a child who was a gift from a divine source. The swami > instructed them that the child must never be subjected to medical testing. > They assert that they have complied with this instruction.**** > > ** ** > > In September 2001, S.T.'s parents arrived with S.T. at the U.S. Consulate > in Mumbai, India. They asserted that they were S.T.'s biological parents > and applied on his behalf for a Consular Report of a Birth Abroad of a > Citizen of the United States of America (“CRBA”), a passport, and a social > security card. The applications were denied. The denial documents stated > that the Trivedis failed to provide evidence of a blood relationship to > S.T. but that the Trivedis could submit DNA test results for S.T. to > provide the evidence. A consular official with whom the Trivedis met > indicated that the applications would not be granted without the DNA test > results. S.T.'s application for a social security card was denied in > February 2010.**** > > ** ** > > In February 2010, S.T. entered the United States under a > humanitarian-parole grant. In April 2010, S.T. again filed a passport > application and an N–600. The State Department and the United States > Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) again asked for DNA testing > to establish the biological relationship between S.T. and the Trivedis. No > DNA testing was performed. The passport application was denied in December > 2010 and the N–600 was denied in September 2011.**** > > ** ** > > On June 28, 2011, S.T. filed a new passport application. In October, 2011, > S.T. filed an appeal from the denial of his N–600 with the USCIS > Administrative Appeals Office. During this appeal process, S.T. claimed a > religious objection > to DNA testing, stating, “Even if [S.T.'s] birth certificate is not > accepted as evidence by USCIS for a claimed biological relationship, > [S.T.'s] religious beliefs forbid the use of scientific testing.”**** > > ** ** > > The court dismissed the Free Exercise Clause claim, but the RFRA claim > remains to be litigated. (On a nonlegal note, if I were the husband, I’d > be a bit suspicious about the swami’s instructions, but maybe I just have a > dirty mind.)**** > > ** ** > > Eugene**** > > _______________________________________________ > To post, send message to Religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu > To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see > http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/religionlaw > > Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed as > private. Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are > posted; people can read the Web archives; and list members can (rightly or > wrongly) forward the messages to others. > -- Ira C. Lupu F. Elwood & Eleanor Davis Professor of Law, Emeritus George Washington University Law School 2000 H St., NW Washington, DC 20052 (202)994-7053 My SSRN papers are here: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=181272#reg
_______________________________________________ To post, send message to Religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/religionlaw Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed as private. Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are posted; people can read the Web archives; and list members can (rightly or wrongly) forward the messages to others.
