vulpasin said:
This is just my personal opinion. I don't base it on anything but my own logic;
I think to be Naturalized, in other words to become an American Citizen is a PRIVILEGE. Individuals born from american parents, or on American soil, etc. have the right to be American Citizens. Us, the immigrants, if we qualify, we have the privilege of becoming American Citizens. Like, for example, the Driver License: Driving, for people who qualify, is granted as a privilege not a right. If you do certain things you may loose you privilege of driving, and on the other hand, as well, if you do certain crimes you may loose your privilege of being an American Citizen....the natural born citizens, it doesn't matter what crimes they may do, they can even go to the electric chair but nobody can strip them of their citizenship.
Also, as long as we go in front of another human being (immigration officer, immigration judge, district judge, etc.) not GOD, and ask him/her to grant us Citizenship, to me it looks like a privilege not a right.
A right is something you naturaly achieve and don't apply for it; Is true, a judge can reinstate a right of yours if someone wrongfuly took it away from you, but that's a different story.
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All these being said, it doesn't necessary mean that we are rats, not human beings with same human rights like American Citizens (i.e. fair tretments, do process, etc.) and doesn't mean we shouldn't fight with all our power and resources (legal resources!) to get what we deserve, the privilege to be proud citizens of the greatest nation on earth.
Good point Vulpa. You made me think. Especially your point about loosing Citizenship. A Right CANNOT be lost. For the argument that a right is something naturally achieved, we can agree that many rights, such as women's right to vote, was not granted to them naturally, but they had to contest their right to suffrage, and to make that right clear, the 19th amendment was passed in 1919.
To the can natural born US citizens lose their citizenship, the answer is Constitutionally YES. Natural born US citizens – those people who are citizens by virtue of their birth in the US – can lose their citizenship but they cannot be denaturalized.
Now how can they lose theie right or privilege as US citizens?
The Fourteenth Amendment, passed shortly after the US Civil War, makes “All persons born … in the United States … citizens of the United States.” The impact of this language is clear – those born in the US, regardless of their parents’ immigration status, regardless of the circumstances that led to their birth in the US, are US citizens. Since that time, there have been laws dealing with the circumstances that could lead natural born citizens to lose their citizenship. There has been substantial development in these laws over the years, but as the situation currently stands, to lose citizenship, the person must voluntarily engage in an expatriating act with the specific intention of relinquishing US citizenship. Also, that act must result in the loss of citizenship under the law in effect at the time of the act.
Under the current scheme, there are seven acts that are considered expatriating and will result in the loss of citizenship. These are:
1. Being naturalized in a foreign country, upon the person’s own application made after reaching 18 years of age;
2. Making an oath or other declaration of allegiance to a foreign country or division thereof, again, after reaching 18 years of age;
3. Serving in the armed forces of a foreign country if those armed forces are engaged in hostilities against the US, or if the person serves as an officer;
4. Working for the government of a foreign country if the person also obtains nationality in that country, or if to work in such a position an oath or other declaration of allegiance is required;
5. Making a formal renunciation of US citizenship before a US consular officer or diplomat in a foreign country;
6. Making a formal written statement of renunciation during a state of war, if the Attorney General approves the renunciation as not contrary to US national defense; and
7. Committing an act of treason against the US, or attempting by force or the use of arms to overthrow the government of the US. Renunciation by this means can be accomplished only after a court has found the person guilty.
US naturalized citizens and natural born citizens together can lose the benefit of US citizenship. The only difference is that natural citizens can only lose their citizenship through their actions, however naturalized citizens can be denaturalized if it is proven that they have lied on their application or have concealed a material fact that would have barred them from citizenship.
But is US citizenship a right or a privilege? The Supreme Court has in many cases argued that US citizenship was a right. For instance, in Perkins v. Elg, which involved Marie Elizabeth Elg, who was born in the United States in 1907 to Swedish parents and raised in Sweden. When she turned 21 she acquired a U.S. passport and returned to live in the United States. Later, the U. S. government tried to deport her, claiming that under Swedish law she had become a Swedish citizen when she and her parents returned to Sweden. The U. S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that Elg was in fact a U. S. citizen because her parents' action did not take away her
right to reclaim U. S. citizenship when she reached her majority. While this is not technically a dual citizenship case (since Elg did not try to maintain her Swedish citizenship), it nonetheless was important for those who did not wish to lose their right to U. S. citizenship through no fault of their own.
Further, in the case of Afroyim v. Rusk, the Court held that the Constitution protected all American citizens from losing their citizenship without proof of intent to do so.
Beys Afroyim immigrated from Poland to the United States in 1912 and became a naturalized citizen some years later. He became fairly well known in art circles as a modernist painter in the 1930s and 1940s. In 1950 he emigrated to Israel, and ten years later he tried to renew his U. S. passport. The State Department refused, explaining that Afroyim had voted in an Israeli election in 1951 and had thus given up his citizenship in the United States.
Afroyim sued the State Department, and the case reached the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled in his favor in a 5-to-4 vote. Interestingly, the Court invoked the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Although intended to guarantee citizenship rights to freed slaves, the Court held that in effect it protected all American citizens from losing their citizenship without proof of intent to do so. True, Afroyim had voted in an Israeli election. But this was not a formal renunciation of his U. S. citizenship.
Thus, and out of these numerous court rulings, we see how the courts interpreted Citizenship to be a right, especially that a right cannot be taken away, unless through the actions of the right's owner, by which he relinquishes such right.
