False Claim to U.S. Citizenship

QUESTION:  My husband and I have been working on his visa for over a year now.  We knew that he would have some problems because we knew that he had a criminal record in the U.S. and that he entered without inspection and stayed there about 17 years with multiple entries.  We were ok with this because we knew that these offenses could at least be waived.  The shocker came when he was charged for making a false claim to U.S. citizenship.  This gave him a lifetime ban.  This all happened when he was with his ex-wife.  He explained to me that he, his ex-wife and ex-boss were trying to cross the border and that they told him to claim that he was a U.S. citizen.  He didn't feel comfortable with this but because he owed over $4,000 to his ex-boss he did it.  This has hurt me, his new wife, so much.  Not only does it affect me but we have three children who are all U.S. citizens.  My youngest girl has several health issues that need a specialist and we can't afford it if we live in Mexico.  Please can you give me information on if there is any way that we could fight this or not? 

REPLY:  Thank you for your question.  Unfortunately, since your husband readily admits to falsely claiming U.S. citizenship, there is nothing to be challenged.  Regardless of the reason that he claimed U.S. citizenship, the fact that he admitted it renders the charge justifiable under the law.  The only cases in which we recommend challenging a Consular finding of falsely claiming citizenship involve a misapplication of the law – when there actually was no false claim to citizenship. 

Your husband may want to consider a nonimmigrant waiver so that he can visit you and your family in the U.S.  Other than that, I am afraid that there is no way for him to return to the U.S.  He faces a lifetime bar for which there is no permanent waiver.  He will never obtain permanent residence or U.S. citizenship.