Factoid 1: Constructively stripping people of citizenship by not issuing them passports or questioning their birth certificates
This cuts both ways. It denies the benefits of citizenship from those who want to be US citizens. But, interestingly there is a group of people who are prevented from renouncing (and getting that CLN) because they can't prove citizenship.
— U.S. Citizen Abroad (@USCitizenAbroad) August 11, 2020
The above tweet references a fascinating discussion from Open Society Justice Initiative about the weaponization of citizenship.
From page 9 …
Denial and Revocation of Documentation of U.S. Citizenship
In the United States, as in many other countries today, the rapid introduction of computer record keeping and increasingly automated and interoperable systems for identity management have drastically changed the evidentiary building blocks of citizenship.
Research conducted for this report reveals that a combination of institutional design and exceedingly limited legal protection against harm permits state-sanctioned profiling by immigration and law enforcement officials based on race, gender, and class, with disastrous consequences for affected communities. Just as more systematic, politically motivated animus has combined with new technology to heighten the vulnerability of naturalized citizens to denaturalization, so are these same trends exposing all citizens to the heightened risk of
passport denial and/or revocation. Individuals who have lived as U.S. citizens for decades can suddenly find themselves stripped of their passports, with complex and expensive legal proceedings, detention, family separation, and humiliation standing between them and confirmation that they are, in fact, Americans.The current and ongoing attack on American citizens and, indeed, on the very definition of American citizenship, must cease. Instead, the government’s expansive citizenship powers must be exercised with restraint and accountability.
And yes, there are cases of people who cannot prove their US citizenship or cannot prove their intent to relinquish US citizenship, to State Department standards. Those in this situation cannot renounce and cannot receive a CLN in an FBAR and FATCA world!
Factoid 2: Denying citizens the basic rights of citizenship
Meanwhile, the erosion of the rights of US citizenship continue …
On August 10, 2020 the New York Times reported that:
WASHINGTON — President Trump is considering new immigration rules that would allow border officials to temporarily block an American citizen or legal permanent resident from returning to the United States from abroad if the authorities have reason to believe the person may be infected with the coronavirus.
Q. Don’t US citizens have the right to enter the United States?
A. Well, according to the article referenced in the following tweet, maybe not …
Would this result in constructively stripping people of US citizenship? https://t.co/RhVdNHyssk pic.twitter.com/bV1ThjvGya
— U.S. Citizen Abroad (@USCitizenAbroad) August 11, 2020
Factoid 3: There are few places a US citizen without dual citizenship can travel to
But maybe the “mobility rights” of US citizenship are moot anyway …
Fortunately, many Homelanders believe the best place for Americans is America. One more reason why @dualcitizenship is helpful. https://t.co/8pUOnXScOC
— U.S. Citizen Abroad (@USCitizenAbroad) August 11, 2020
Remember that Bhutan (in the 1990s) and India (now) have expelled or disenfranchised large numbers of supposed immigrants whose documentation was considered unacceptable (no unusual thing, given the state of documentation and widespread illiteracy).
Trump’s proposal seems different. He is not proposing to strip citizenship from people with Covid-19, but to bar them from entry to the USA for some unknown period. Most countries consider that they have a duty to admit citizens (or often, alien residents) even if they have Covid. All of Taiwan’s current 30 live cases, for instance, were imported by returning Taiwan nationals, rather than transmitted domestically. I understand that a few European countries (perhaps Italy?) have been refusing entry to their own passport-holders who were also dual citizens, whether or not they had Covid. Of course the US government already has the power to order certain returning citizens into quarantine (within the national borders), and has done so recently. As has Taiwan, and numerous other countries.