Ayala v. United States, 386 F. Supp. 3d 635

Plaintiff was born in El Salvador (1978), became a lawful permanent resident as a child, and lived with his father, who naturalized in 1995; under then-INA §321(a) he derived U.S. citizenship but received no certificate then.
In February–April 2004 CBP/DHS investigated plaintiff on return to the U.S.; despite records indicating the custody facts supporting derivative citizenship, DHS concluded plaintiff was not a U.S. citizen.
DHS arrested, detained, and initiated removal proceedings in 2004; plaintiff (through counsel) conceded noncitizenship, was ordered removed, and was removed to El Salvador in December 2004.
Plaintiff returned to the U.S. later; after detention in 2015–2016 and renewed counsel, plaintiff established derivative citizenship, obtained a certificate and passport, and had the 2004 proceedings terminated.
Plaintiff sued under the FTCA for assault, battery, false arrest, IIED, negligence, and negligent infliction of emotional distress, alleging the 2004 citizenship error caused unlawful arrest/detention/removal; the government moved to dismiss for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction under the FTCA discretionary-function exception.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether FTCA discretionary-function exception bars tort claims challenging DHS's 2004 citizenship determination and consequent arrest/detention/removal	DHS lacked discretion to arrest/detain/remove a U.S. citizen; plaintiff argues the acts were not discretionary once citizenship existed	DHS's investigation, decision-making about citizenship, and consequent arrest/detention/removal involved judgment grounded in policy and are covered by the discretionary-function exception	Court held exception applies; FTCA waiver is not available, so no subject-matter jurisdiction

F.D.I.C. v. Meyer, 510 U.S. 471 (Sup. Ct. 1994) (sovereign immunity bars suit absent waiver)
Berkovitz v. United States, 486 U.S. 531 (Sup. Ct. 1988) (two-part test for discretionary-function exception)
Gaubert v. United States, 499 U.S. 315 (Sup. Ct. 1991) (presumption that discretionary acts are grounded in policy)
Medina v. United States, 259 F.3d 220 (4th Cir. 2001) (law-enforcement investigatory decisions are discretionary)
Holbrook v. United States, 673 F.3d 341 (4th Cir. 2012) (discretionary-function analysis summarized)
Indemnity Ins. Co. of N. Am. v. United States, 569 F.3d 175 (4th Cir. 2009) (plaintiff bears burden to show discretionary-function exception does not apply)
Mirmehdi v. United States, 689 F.3d 975 (9th Cir. 2012) (detention/removal decisions implicate foreign-policy and executive discretion)
Miranda v. Sessions, 853 F.3d 69 (1st Cir. 2017) (foreign birth raises rebuttable presumption of alienage; burden on claimant to prove citizenship)