eagle+eyed

If she can show they married in good faith and that the marriage subsequently broke down, especially is not of her falut, she can stay and adjust status on her own.

There is no right to immigration. Even with a visa or a GC, there is no right to enter the US. The only people guaranteed entry to the US are US Citizens.
The OP has no spouse to go live with, and she wants to use a spousal visa. Anyone encouraging her is encouraging illegal activity and fraud.

1. She has a visa to come to the US for the purpose of being with her spouse. That is no longer her intention thus the visa is not being used for the purpose it was issued. Same if you come on a tourist visa and conduct business, that is not what the visa is for.
2. No one should ever lie to immigration. That could result in an immediate life-time ban from coming to the US. Even if she made it into the US she could be later found out and deported.
3. She doesn't have to sign anything for the divorce to be processed.
4. He could very well have already informed immigration that they are no longer together and she could be turned around at the airport since her visa is no longer valid (no spouse, no valid spousal visa).
5. Her visa is not for the purpose of her coming to the US to divorce. That can be done without her or with her in her country.

The purpose of the visa is for you to be with your husband. He can contact immigration and inform them you are no longer together and your visa will no longer be valid. If he sends proof that he has filed for divorce it will also make the visa invalid. Whether he has done this or not is unknown since you are no longer speaking to each other.
Trying to enter with a spousal visa when you are no longer with your spouse would be fraud. Also it is possible you will be turned around when you attempt to enter the US and returned on the next flight.

Congratulations. I hope he can turn his life around.
Was he represented by a lawyer at his criminal trial or immigration court? If he was, he should make a complaint about that lawyer (Although I do not know the circumstances - perhaps your cousin was not helpful to the lawyer, or the sharpest tool in the box). It seems negligent to fail to notice you have a potential US citizen undergoing deportation proceeding. Certainly not the fault of the government.

Ok so to everybody that said my cousin was not going to come back and he is not a USC and all that you were WRONG!!!! He had his appointment today and i spoke to him a couple of hours ago , the consular officer has in fact confirmed he was a US CITIZEN from birth ! All the details were laid out, the fact that he was a Legal Permanent Resident had absolutely no bearing whatsoever, as a matter of fact he said that the Consular Officer told him that what they lost was the money order they sent in ! He mentioned his arrest and even brought along with him the court paperwork he had from his arrest, wasn't interested in his arrest because once again he said his arrest has nothing to do with his Citizenship. He brought in his parents marriage certificate,(that has to be translated for his passport appointment) also his birth certificate (which also has to be translated) He needs his fathers original Birth certificate, as well as his mothers N-400, US citizens parents residence proof something like that , and something about his mothers prenatal records . I think there was something else saying that his parents proof they were together at the time of conception , and last but not least the Money order for the US Passport. Thats pretty much all he told me, he got a checklist of things to bring for his appointment next week . And the officer also told him that the fact that he was deported was by his parents own doing and himself as well. So they took no responsibility whatsoever. But he doesn't care he just wants to come home where HE BELONGS! And I want to thank you the people that helped me out and gave me accurate information, without judging. Thank you very much. I hope this situation helps out others as well. I will update when he receives his passport in hand !

I have no words of wisdom or knowledge but have just read through this entire thread and hope that you will be keeping us posted.
It's soooo important to have threads like this because YES, immigration makes mistakes, and can rip apart families and lives. It's also good to be reminded of the fact that USC or not, we need to know our rights, file our papers, be educated so that we can fight for our rights.
This thread has negatives, yes, I'm overlooking them to see the fact there's people here trying to help in this situation and I hope as an online community we can do just that, help those with questions so that they may become empowered in their own situations, thus uniting families and loved ones. Also, you never know who may get the next burden from USCIS mistakes... It could be you and you could be here asking for emergency help. We are all here because we know what it feels like to have immigration keep your family apart, or the helplessness feeling of not knowing the law fully. We must stick to the common goal of visa journey, helping those on the journey and providing SUPPORT, positive emotional encouragement and factual advice. judgments have NO place and shouldn't be tolerated. If we're not encouraging and we're not providing advice based on FACTS, then stay off the thread goddamnit. Families are hurting and facts need to be found in this mumbled jumbled mess of immigration law.
Good luck katie1990 and I will be following the post for updates!!

I have no words of wisdom or knowledge but have just read through this entire thread and hope that you will be keeping us posted.
It's soooo important to have threads like this because YES, immigration makes mistakes, and can rip apart families and lives. It's also good to be reminded of the fact that USC or not, we need to know our rights, file our papers, be educated so that we can fight for our rights.
This thread has negatives, yes, I'm overlooking them to see the fact there's people here trying to help in this situation and I hope as an online community we can do just that, help those with questions so that they may become empowered in their own situations, thus uniting families and loved ones. Also, you never know who may get the next burden from USCIS mistakes... It could be you and you could be here asking for emergency help. We are all here because we know what it feels like to have immigration keep your family apart, or the helplessness feeling of not knowing the law fully. We must stick to the common goal of visa journey, helping those on the journey and providing SUPPORT, positive emotional encouragement and factual advice. judgments have NO place and shouldn't be tolerated. If we're not encouraging and we're not providing advice based on FACTS, then stay off the thread goddamnit. Families are hurting and facts need to be found in this mumbled jumbled mess of immigration law.
Good luck katie1990 and I will be following the post for updates!!

I get what you're saying , He was deported as an LPR because he truly did not think that he was a USC. My aunt really did not think or know he was a USC, my uncle maybe might've thought at some point he was because of that the CBP told him at the border about him being a USC, but after he got a green card it all stayed as he was just a green card holder. Some people just don't look at things as a bigger picture than you and others are looking at it. Yes it is ignorance.

ANd to all the people that are being mean and saying that he needs to stay out, thats not what I asked, the courts already judged him. He did his time, paid for his crime. That is done and over with. SO since you are a US CITIZEN because you commit a crime they should deport you as well? His crime makes him less of a US CItizen than you? Come on doesn't make sense.

To those people that can't get past the fact that he was an LPR for so long, YES my uncle was ignorant, like I said, when that Notario told him he would process my cousins green card along with my aunts, my uncle thought what the hell it can't hurt he said he didn't think much of it it was just one of those things that couldn't hurt to get done. He wanted nothing to do with Immigration or knew anything that had to do with Immigration. He though that as long as he had his family in his country he didn't care . And yes back when they crossed things were much easier, as long as one said US Citizen they'd wave you by. My aunt did sign paperwork, and the officer did tell her that she had to get her legal status processed as soon as possible,wether you want to believe it or not I don't care. I know thats how it was because when I was brought here in 1996 Were were waved in by an officer . Only the driver said she was a USC. USCIS does make errors, on my I-130 that my stepfather filed for me they put it down as wife or husband of a US CITIZEN! Thankfully the interviewing officer told me they do make mistakes it happens!

Apparently that is the outcome because the Officer himself told him that he was a US Citizen and had to process a US Passport but obviously needed to have all the paperwork at hand, si since everything as as we have said i is then he is one. But I will definitely post when he calls.
Thank you for sharing, that is very interesting to know that cases like this do happen, maybe not exactly the same but its just one of those things that you don't really put any thought to!

For what it's worth, I am sharing an anecdotal example of what happened to my husband.
He travelled legally into the US when he was 6. His birth mother was already a green card holder, and eventually became a US citizen. My husband grew up in the US, went to school etc, graduated and then joined the military. He didn't join the military to get a US citizenship, it was a career he truly wanted. He was always under the impression that he was an LPR, and he had a green card. A few years into his military career, he received advice that he should sort out his citizenship. He was in his 20s by then. He filled out his details, social security etc and they issued him with a certificate of citizenship, but the date on which he became a citizen was backdated to when he was in middle school! He worked out that this date was when his birth mother became a US citizen. So he was a citizen that whole time, but didn't know it.

Please do update us! It's great that things are already moving along so fast.
I'm sure I'm not the only one who would be very interested to learn of the outcome, whatever it may be. Admittedly I hope that the outcome is as I have been arguing in this thread since yesterday, if only to selfishly vindicate my argument against the doomsayers and other negative Nancies, but I'll be equally interested to learn why he is not a US citizen, if such is the case.

Do update us, please! I am very interested in the outcome. Good luck to your cousin. Everybody deserves a second chance.

I'm amazed at the amount of ill-informed and just-plain-wrong information being offered up in this thread -- often with great, thoroughly unjustified conviction and in deeply judgmental tones. It's enough to make one wonder about the usefulness of this whole website, though I also note that many posters are approaching the topic in a more objective and helpful way. Obviously, without knowing the full story, and without having access to all of the documentation relevant to a prospective claim to citizenship by the individual in question, none of us here is in a position to adjudicate that claim.
Based on the background that has been offered up, however, it does appear that this individual was a US citizen from birth, having been born to parents in wedlock with a US citizen father who met the requirements for transmitting citizenship. How he ended up with a Green Card without anyone in the bureaucracy noticing that he was already a citizen is a bit mysterious, but mistakes do happen. In any case, as others have noted, it appears that he would have gained citizenship, in any case, upon the naturalization of his mother. Regardless of how he obtained citizenship, neither the fact that he failed to obtain documentation (or even to be aware) of it nor the fact that he has been convicted of a felony would have any impact on his status, and as a US citizen, he should not have been subject to deportation.
And it's certainly not unheard of for a US citizen to be deported in error. See this (lengthy) story in a recent edition of "The New Yorker": http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/04/29/130429fa_fact_finnegan In that case, a native-born US citizen was classified in prison records as Mexican and ended up being sent to Mexico at the end of his sentence (and a further period in immigration detention). He ended up homeless in Central America, where he came to the attention of the US embassy (in Guatemala, I think), which issued him a passport once they were able to establish his citizenship. Interestingly, CBP gave him a hard time when he went back to the US on that passport, but as a citizen, he had every right to return.
As for all the discussion about the necessity of obtaining a certificate of citizenship (in the US) in this case, keep in mind that while the US embassy won't issue a CRBA to an adult, they can (as in the case I just mentioned) issue a passport if the documentation to establish citizenship is in order.
This is confirmed in the CRBA section of the website of the US Embassy in Honduras (http://honduras.usembassy.gov/repbirthab.html):

"Applicants over age 18: "Though we accept applications for CRBAs up until a child's 18th birthday, we strongly recommend applying as soon as possible in order to facilitate the application and interview process. "If the applicant for a CRBA is over 18, he/she must submit a signed statement explaining why the birth was not reported earlier. An applicant who is over 18 may not be able to receive a CRBA; however, they will still receive a U.S. passport if it is determined that they are U.S. citizens."

Here:
http://www.uscis.gov/policymanual/HTML/PolicyManual-Volume12-PartL-Chapter2.html
http://www.newcitizen.us/losing.html
none of these aplies to the OP's situation that is what Shub has been trying to tell you

I do not care for your patronizing, hostile attitude. I'm not a lawyer but having been the beneficiary of immigration benefits and as I like to understand what I'm getting myself into, I know how "importing" your relatives via form I-130 works, you're not teaching me anything.
I will add that your rant contains a lot more assumptions than I am making in this thread.

If you're going to "educate" me, get your facts right.
Of course it is legal to jail someone if they did something wrong regardless of their status as an LPR or USC. It is also legal to deport a green card holder. No one is disputing either scenario.
It is not however legal to deport a US citizen, whether they are natural born or naturalized, even for something like murder. In order to be "deportable", a US citizen would first have to go through denaturalization, and even something as serious as murder is not grounds for denaturalization. If you think I am wrong, then show me the law. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1481 is my basis for telling you that the person in the thread at hand does not qualify.

I read the thread from beginning to end and am taking what the poster is saying at face value. I see no reason for them to lie to us since, in the end, it is the government who will review the case according to the law, so there is nothing to be gained by lying to this forum.
So to your question, again, yes, I saw those comments, and am going on the assumption that errors were committed by his family out of plain ol' ignorance of how things work.
If he was a US citizen by birth, then he shouldn't have gotten a green card in the first place as he was already a citizen.
If he wasn't a citizen at birth, then he automatically became a citizen at age 12 when his mother became a citizen.
His being a member of a gang and serving a prison term is not grounds for denaturalization, and he should not have been deported to begin with, but having been deported also does not affect his status as a US citizen.
On the topic of wrongful deportation of US citizens -- it should not happen, but it does happen, and victims can sue the government for damages.

I believe it's already been discussed in detail throughout this thread, but anyway:
1) If he is a US citizen by virtue of his birth to a US citizen, he is what is called a "natural born" US citizen and that status cannot be revoked unilaterally (meaning the only way to lose the status is to do something, on purpose, with the intention of relinquishing US citizenship). Aside from the criminal background, he could be president, unlike naturalized citizens.
2) If #1 above does not apply and if he became a US citizen through his mother's naturalization before he turned 18, his status as a US citizen cannot be revoked except through denaturalization, which can only occur within specific circumstances, none of which apply here. In any case, the fact that he was deported in the first place was illegal and does not affect his status as a US citizen.

katie, I hope all works out well for you all. I am sure it all has been agonizing... everything... arrest, wrongful deportation, trying to get him back.... I am sure he has learned a huge lesson through all of this too. And I am sure your family is tighter now in love than ever. If you can, keep us posted. And God be with you all.
Brian in Tennessee

Well apparently the CBP thought so because he remembers clearly the officer mentioned his son was a USC . Im telling it like Im being told. And I'm not adding the extra stuff he is saying lets just say he is aggravated lol but thank you all for the feed back .

It is possible he may need to prove the blood relation to his father, especially since a CRBA was not filed immediately after birth. But once again, if the relationship is proven, he is still a US citizen by birth.
5. Proof of the relationship between the U.S. citizen parent(s) and the child: The child's birth certificate with both parent's names on it is the best place to start. If a child was born out of wedlock, we strongly suggest also bring:
1. Both parents' current and previous passports
2. Family photos from before and after the child was born
3. Pre-natal medical and hospital records
4. Record of economic support/money orders between parents
If you do not have sufficient evidence to prove the blood relationship between the U.S. citizen parent and the child, you may perform a DNA test as proof. If you think you may lack other evidence, we suggest you read more about the DNA Testing Process. Do not perform any kind of DNA testing before you come in for your child's CRBA interview.
Because the fact he was an LPR is irrelevant. If you ask why he was brought as an LPR instead of as a US citizen, the best answer I can give is that his father did not know he could file a CRBA for him.

I'm not conflicted and I am no expert.
The simple fact is that I see this sort of post on immigration forums a lot (funnily enough, I was just telling someone else about it yesterday) and it pisses me off because people use it as a platform to proselytize, to pass judgment on people they know nothing about because they did something bad, to offer no help at all, and often do so in the face of the law, sometimes lying through their teeth to get their point across. I move that these people should just shut up, but they have the right to express their opinion, just as I have the right to point out that their attitude is obnoxious and unbecoming.
Here's how I see it.
Someone initially said: "your cousin is a criminal and should stay outside of the US where criminals belong and oh by the way he lost his US citizenship because <no reason provided>" -- that's a textbook BS post you see on immigration forums when someone did something bad and is asking about immigration. Useless, bitter, opinionated and just plain wrong.
I said: "oh well I'm not a lawyer so you should do further research, but hey, you said this and that, so I think he may be OK because A and B". At least I'm trying to be neutral and helpful. I may not like criminals but criminals have rights, that is the rule of law, and part of it is putting aside personal feelings. To me, that is the crux of the issue.
My only fault is perhaps jumping to conclusions too quickly about Avery Cates' post, but I've been around immigration forums (not just this one) for long enough to be reasonably confident in my ability to detect an embittered individual over one who simply doesn't know any better.

You're speaking in absolutes when the piece of text you quoted says "Failure to promptly document a child who meets the statutory requirements for acquiring U.S. citizenship at birth may cause problems for the parents and the child when attempting to establish the child’s U.S. citizenship (snip)"
So yeah, it may be a problem, but that doesn't mean it can't be fixed.