Dual Citizenship possible changes

[drovedo]

Immigration Reform Bill of 2007 & bills

I came across this info accidently yesterday (I'm not sure if the following bills are dead or are still in committee, or may be revived, sorry for the earlier confusion):

This year, as part of the US Immigration Reform Bill, there was a section in the bill which would have revoked dual citizenship for americans and any wishing to obtain dual citizenship in the future. There is a bill in committee for review (terrorism, etc subcommittee) which states the very same thing, as well a bill in the same committee requiring all US dual citizens to register as such with the State Dept. Currently, US does not require their citizens to register foreign citizenship status with other countries or US.

Bills:
Find at main site if you cannot directly to specific bill link:
http://thomas.loc.gov/

HR 3938:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:hr3938:

S1815:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:s1815:

HR 4168
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:hr4168:

The main argument by the terrorism subcommittee members is the fact that Mexico has the largest percentage of Dual Citizens in the country. (Mexico made dual citizenship legal in 1998.)

My comment: Terrorism doesn't appear to be the reason for this one. This is a stupid argument and reasoning. Requiring an oath to US effectively does the same thing as preventing or revoking dual citizenship when combined with informing the foreign country of dual citizenship status. They figured out basically a number of ways to prevent dual status.

[drovedo]

Letter written by Presidential Candidate,Tom Tancredo:

December 5, 2005

The Honorable Roy Blunt
Majority Leader
U.S. House of Representatives
H-107, The Capitol
Washington, DC The Honorable David Dreier
Chairman
House Committee on Rules
H-312, The Capitol
Washington, DC

Dear Leader Blunt and Chairman Dreier,

...as a courtesy to you, I have listed some of the proposals from my colleagues on the House Immigration Reform Caucus below.
...
Restoring the Meaning of Citizenship:

Eliminate dual citizenship
Write the oath of citizenship into law

I believe it would be in the best interest of the American people for each proposal to be given an up-or-down vote.

Thank you in advance for your consideration.

Sincerely

Tom Tancredo
Chairman
House Immigration Reform Caucus

Full letter here: http://www.diggersrealm.com/mt/archives/001405.html

I'm not making a political commentary on this, just providing the facts.

thank you.

[drovedo]

On the spanish language Presidential debate on Sunday night, Sept. 9 at 7p.m., Senator Clinton stated that she plans to get an Immigration Reform Bill passed within her first year of office as President.

Whether or not this means including the provisions of last year's bill is unknown. Someone should ask her that. Keep in mind, the bills re: dual citizenship are in subcommittee.

She and Sen. Obama did vote for the 2007 Immigration Reform Bill which included the provisions re: dual citizenship.

[mler]

That's interesting stuff, dovedo. If it goes through, I would guess the consulates will be considerably less busy.

Do you get the sense that this is directed to people seeking to naturalize in the U.S., or also to those who were born American citizens? Tancredo's letter seems to indicate that he supports the latter. I also noted the suggestion for some limitations on the concept of U.S. citizenship by birth.

Immigration is a hot-button issue, and I don't doubt that there will be many changes in U.S. policy in both the short and long terms. It bears watching.

Thank you for bringing it to our attention.
__________

I just read the entire letter, and I noted that it was written two years ago. Is this being resubmitted for consideration?

I should add that, upon reading the letter, I got the sense that he does not expect all his proposals to be accepted; but he does suggest some major reforms.

[drovedo]

Well, I think its directed mainly towards naturalized citizens, and more than just a keeping track of effort,collecting US income tax, election results,etc. Since the constitution says that immigration laws must be applied equally, that may in part, account for also proposing the requirement for US born citizens take an oath of allegiance, report their dual citizenship, and the separate proposal of eliminating dual citizenship altogether. Quite a difficult legal situation to interpret considering what I have seen of past laws and rulings.

In one hearing before the judiciary committee, a witness, estimated there were about 17.4 million possible dual citizens since 1960 and argued that, that fact posed a security risk to the sovereignty of US.

Security seems to be the other reason, but I think, frankly, short on the totem pole, as I have seen proposals for it well before 2001. There are several Supreme Court decisions on this issue of dual citizenship and the possible stripping of US citizenship over the past 100 hundred years plus, starting with a landmark case re: the Chinese Exclusion Act and a natural born US of chinese descent. (I'm sure there cases earlier, but this one really stands out.)

Another reason, may also be the military requirements of male citizens, as historically the draft was the main reason for requiring passports in the first place in most countries. Note: that the majority of candidates believe that the draft should be applied to women citizens as well. That could make a interesting legal argument--making both sexes necessary for the protection and sovereignty of the nation. Who knows. Passports weren't required permanently for US citizens until after WWII. Only briefly were they required after WWI. Up until the 1950's (i believe, women could travel on their husbands passports). I might be misinterpreting that for the US. Let me know.

[mler]

I know very little about this, but it will be fascinating to follow. I never got the sense that the U.S. was ever too enamored about dual citizenship. It's kind of like the "don't ask; don't tell" policy for gays in the military. They know it exists, but they don't want to know about it. With illegal immigration being such a hot topic during this election, I've no doubt that we'll be hearing a lot more.

Again, thank you for sharing this with us.

[drovedo]

Sure.

Tancredo note: With Congressional lawmaking, there is always compromise. Its like buying a car.

Hope that explanation helps.