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Old 08-29-2019, 12:48 PM
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Question What Do New Citizenship Rules For Kids Of U.S. Military, Workers Abroad Mean?

What Do New Citizenship Rules For Kids Of U.S. Military, Workers Abroad Mean?
By: Joel Rose - NPR WBEZ91.5 - 8-29-19
RE: https://www.npr.org/2019/08/29/75550...rs-abroad-mean

Photo link: https://media.npr.org/assets/img/201...6-s800-c85.jpg
A new Trump administration policy on citizenship for children born abroad may affect only a small fraction of U.S. service members and government employees, but its announcement drew anger. By: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

The children of some U.S. military members and government workers overseas will have a harder time getting citizenship under a Trump administration policy announced Wednesday.

The changes will affect a relatively small number of people. But the announcement touched off widespread confusion and outrage — with immigrant and veterans' advocates questioning why the administration would change the rules for people who are serving their country.

The administration scrambled to clarify that the vast majority of children born to U.S. citizens while they are are serving or working abroad will still get citizenship automatically.

For certain other groups, under the new policy, there will be a more complicated application process. In some cases, parents will have to apply for a visa to legally bring their child to the U.S. and establish residency before applying for citizenship.

Those groups include:

- parents who adopted children while serving abroad

- parents who became U.S. citizens after their children were born

- parents who are U.S. citizens but have never lived here

- recently naturalized citizens who have not met the U.S. residency requirements to transmit citizenship to their children automatically

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the agency in charge of legal immigration, has not said how many families would be affected by the new policy. Immigration experts believe it's likely a few hundred people per year — a small fraction of the hundreds of thousands of U.S. service members and government employees stationed overseas.

The change left some in the military community confused and angry.

"That is an abominable and anti-patriotic position for the Trump Administration to take," said Will Goodwin, a U.S. Army veteran and director of government relations for VoteVets, a liberal advocacy group for veterans.

"Tonight, there's someone likely on patrol in a war zone, or at an embassy, who is scared to death that their child is no longer a citizen, just because they were born overseas," Godwin said in a statement. "The stress and strain that this is causing military families is a cruelty that one would never expect from a Commander in Chief."

The complicated text of the policy announcement itself — coupled with unclear and contradictory guidance from USCIS — contributed to widespread confusion. Some media outlets erroneously reported that the children of all U.S. service members or federal employees who are born overseas would no longer become citizens automatically.

That prompted a response from Ken Cuccinelli, the acting director of USCIS.

"This policy update does not affect who is born a U.S. citizen, period," Cuccinelli said. "This only affects children who were born outside the United States and were not U.S. citizens. This does NOT impact birthright citizenship. This policy update does not deny citizenship to the children of US government employees or members of the military born abroad."

Immigrant advocates acknowledge the impact of the change has been widely overstated. Nonetheless, they accuse Cuccinelli of downplaying the serious consequences of the policy change for the service members and government employees who are affected.

"Why are we doing this? What problem are we trying to solve, except create concern and fear in this population of people?" asked Ur Jaddou, who served as chief counsel at USCIS during the Obama administration and now heads DHS Watch, an immigrant advocacy organization.

USCIS says it issued the new guidance because its previous policy conflicted with guidance issued by the State Department. But Jaddou is not convinced.

"If you go back in the last 2 1/2 years there is a systemic attempt to narrow the circumstances ... to limit the number of people who can enter the country. And now achieve citizenship through their parents," she said.
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O Almighty Lord God, who neither slumberest nor sleepest; Protect and assist, we beseech thee, all those who at home or abroad, by land, by sea, or in the air, are serving this country, that they, being armed with thy defence, may be preserved evermore in all perils; and being filled with wisdom and girded with strength, may do their duty to thy honour and glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

"IN GOD WE TRUST"
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Old 08-29-2019, 12:51 PM
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Arrow U.S. officials defend new citizenship rules for some military families

U.S. officials defend new citizenship rules for some military families
By: Jan Wolfe - Reuters - 8-29-19
RE: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-u...VJ2CD?rpc=401&

(Reuters) - U.S. immigration officials on Thursday defended a new policy that ends automatic citizenship for some children born to U.S. citizens stationed abroad as government employees or members of the U.S. military, saying it would only affect a “handful” of families every year.

“It bears repeating that this affects a very small population of individuals and they have another means of obtaining citizenship for their children,” a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) official said in a call with reporters, adding that the new pathway “just requires different paperwork.”

Under current policy, children of service members and other officials stationed abroad are considered to be “residing in” the United States, so they receive the same automatic citizenship as if they were born on U.S. soil.

But under a policy USCIS announced on Wednesday, effective Oct. 29, certain parents will be required to go through a formal application process seeking U.S. citizenship on their children’s behalf by their 18th birthday.

USCIS officials said the policy may affect children born to non-citizens serving in the military, as well as children adopted by U.S. citizens stationed abroad. The policy could also affect children born to two U.S. citizens who do not meet requirements for showing a physical presence in the United States, the officials said.

A “fact sheet” posted on the USCIS website suggested the new policy would be limited in scope, saying it would exempt children born abroad to a U.S. citizen who was physically present on U.S. territory for at least five years.

“This really is a very small population,” a different USCIS official said. “Our records that we ran reflected possibly 20 to 25 people over the past five years per year.”

The announcement of the new policy swiftly drew criticism, particularly from critics of U.S. President Donald Trump, who has pushed for policies that make it harder for immigrants to come to, and settle in, the United States.

Acting USCIS director Ken Cuccinelli said on Twitter on Wednesday that the new rule “does NOT impact birthright citizenship” - the doctrine, criticized by Trump, by which anyone born in the United States or its possessions automatically acquires U.S. citizenship.

The new policy, which is not retroactive, sparked immediate consternation on the part of some organizations representing members of the armed forces.

“Military members already have enough to deal with, and the last thing that they should have to do when stationed overseas is go through hoops to ensure their children are U.S. citizens,” said Andy Blevins, executive director of the Modern Military Association of America, which advocates for gay and lesbian service members.

The USCIS officials said the agency was changing its interpretation of a statute known as the Immigration and Nationality Act in order to match State Department policies.

“[C]onsistent decision-making is important no matter the size of the affected group, so when the Department of State approached us, USCIS, about making this change, we agreed,” the official said.

The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Reporting by Jan Wolfe; Editing by Dan Grebler

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
__________________
Boats

O Almighty Lord God, who neither slumberest nor sleepest; Protect and assist, we beseech thee, all those who at home or abroad, by land, by sea, or in the air, are serving this country, that they, being armed with thy defence, may be preserved evermore in all perils; and being filled with wisdom and girded with strength, may do their duty to thy honour and glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

"IN GOD WE TRUST"
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