Chapter 21:4: American Citizenship

Transcription

1 Chapter 21:4: American Citizenship o We will examine how American citizenship can be acquired. o We will explain the immigration policy of the United States. o We will examine the undocumented alien problem.

2 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; Ephesians 2:19-20.

3 AMERICAN CITIZENSHIP: o Citizen owes allegiance to the United States and is entitled to its protection.

4 THE QUESTION OF CITIZENSHIP: o As it was originally written, the Constitution mentioned both citizens of the United States and citizens of the States. o Fourteenth Amendment stipulated Citizenship. o All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subjects to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. o Thus, the 14th Amendment declares that a person can become an American citizen either by birth or by naturalization.

5 CITIZENS BY BIRTH: o Some 250 Million Americans more than 90 percent of all of us are American citizens because we were born in the United States. o Another several million are also citizens by birth, even though they were born abroad. o Citizenship by birth is determined by either o (1) Jus soli: the law of the soil, there born, o (2) Jus sanguinis: the law of the blood, to whom born.

6 Jus Soli: o The 14th Amendment confers citizenship according to the location of a person s birth: All persons born in the United States o By law, Congress has defined the United States to include, for purposes of citizenship, the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, The Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands. o It includes American embassies and all American public vessels anywhere in the world.

7 Jus Sanguinis: o A child born abroad can become an American citizen at birth under certain circumstances. o The child must be born to at least one parent who is a citizen and who has at some time lived in the United States. o The 14th Amendment does not provide for jus sanguinis, but Congress has included it as a part of American citizenship law since 1790.

8 Citizenship by Naturalization: o Naturalization: Is the legal process by which a person becomes a citizen of another country at some time after birth. o Congress has the exclusive power to provide for naturalization. o No state may do so. o The naturalization process may be either an individual or a collective one.

9 Citizenship by Naturalization: o Individual Naturalization: The process is most often an individual one, conducted by a court. o More than 250,000 aliens, citizens or nationals of a foreign state living in this country now become naturalized American citizens each year.

10 Citizenship by Naturalization: o As a general rule, any person who has come to the United States as an immigrant, that is, an alien legally admitted as a permanent resident, can be naturalized. o Current law provides that a person who wants to become a naturalized citizen must: o Entered the United States legally, lived here for at least five years and in some State for at least three months, and be at least 18 years old.

11 Citizenship by Naturalization: o File a petition for naturalization with the clerk of a federal district court or of a state court of record. o Be literate in the English language. o Be of good moral character, attached to the principles of the Constitution, and well disposed to the good order and happiness of the United States.

12 Citizenship by Naturalization: o Have a knowledge and understanding of the fundamentals of the history, and the principles and form of government of the United States. o Take an oath or affirmation which he or she absolutely renounces any allegiance to any foreign power and promises to support and defend the constitution and laws of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

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14 Citizenship by Naturalization: o The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) in the Department of Justice investigates each applicant. o An INS examiner then reports to the judge of the court in which the petition for naturalization was filed. o If the judge is satisfied, the oath or affirmation is administered in open court, and the new citizen receives a certificate of naturalization.

15 COLLECTIVE NATURALIZATION: o At various times in American history an entire group of persons has been naturalized en masse. o This has most often happened when the United States has acquired new territory. o As the table on this page indicates, those living in the areas involved were naturalized by a treaty or by an act or a joint resolution passed by Congress. o The largest single instance of collective naturalization came with the ratification of the 14th Amendment, however.

16 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city. Hebrews 11:13-16.

17 LOSS OF CITIZENSHIP: o Although rare, every American citizen, whether native born or naturalized, has the right to renounce or voluntarily abandon his or her citizenship. o Expatriation is the legal process by which a loss of citizenship occurs. o The Supreme Court has several times held that the Constitution prohibits automatic expatriation.

18 LOSS OF CITIZENSHIP: o That is, Congress cannot provide for the involuntary loss of a person s citizenship for something he or she has done for example, committing a crime, voting in a foreign election, or serving in the armed forces of another country. o Naturalized citizens can lose their citizenship involuntarily. o Can be denaturalized through a court order and only after it has been shown that the person became a citizen by fraud or deception.

19 LOSS OF CITIZENSHIP: o A person cannot gain nor lose American citizenship by marriage. o The only significant effect that marriage has on the matter is to shorten the time required for naturalization of an alien who marries an American citizen. o U.S. is the Nation of immigrants. o Congress has the exclusive power to regulate immigration that is, the power to decide who may be admitted to the United States and under what conditions.

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21 History of Immigration: o The United States made no serious attempt to regulate immigration for more than a century after independence. o As long as land was plentiful and rapidly expanding industry demanded more and more workers, immigration was encouraged.

22 History of Immigration: o Closing of the frontier, until the 1880s most immigrants had come from the countries of Northern and Western Europe. o The new immigration from the 1880s onward came mostly from Southern and Eastern Europe. o The closing of the frontier, an abundant labor supply, and the shift in the major source of newcomers combined to bring changes in the traditional policy of encouraging immigration.

23 History of Immigration: o Congress placed the first major restrictions on immigration with the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act in o During this time period, mental illness and physical deformity were denied admission to the United States.

24 History of Immigration: o The Immigration Acts of 1921 and 1924 and the National Origins Act of 1929 established a national origins quota system. o Each country in Europe was assigned a quota, a limit on the number of immigration who could enter the United States from the country each year. o Altogether, only 150,000 quota immigrants could be admitted in any one year.

25 History of Immigration: o The quotas were purposely drawn to favor Northern and Western Europe. o The quota system was not applied to the Western Hemisphere, but immigration from Asia, Africa, and elsewhere generally prohibited.

26 History of Immigration: o 1952, Congress passed yet another basic law, the Immigration and Nationality Act. o That statute modified the quota system to cover every country outside the Western Hemisphere.

27 History of Immigration: o The U.S. finally eliminated the countrybased quota system in the Immigration Act of o That law provided that as many as 270,000 immigrants could enter the United States each year without regard to race, nationality, or country of origin. o The 1965 law gave special preference to one group of immigrants, however; the immediate relatives of American citizens or of aliens legally residing in this country.

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29 PRESENT IMMIGRATION POLICES: o Today, the Immigration Act of 1990, which became effective in October 1, o Basic law governing the admission of aliens to the United States. o Like its predecessors, it was adopted only after years of intense debate, and many of its provisions are the subject of continuing controversy.

30 PRESENT IMMIGRATION POLICES: o The 1990 law provided for a substantial increase in the number of immigrants who may enter the United States each year. o The annual ceiling is now set at 675,000.

31 PRESENT IMMIGRATION POLICES: o Current law continues the family preference policy first put in place in o At least a third of those persons admitted under its terms must be the close relatives of American citizens or resident aliens. o Those immigrants who have occupational talents in short supply in the United States notably, highly skilled researchers, engineers, and scientists also receive special preference.

32 PRESENT IMMIGRATION POLICES: o Only those aliens who can qualify for citizenship can be admitted as immigrants. o The law s list of excludable aliens those barred because of some personal characteristics is extensive. o Among those excluded are, criminal persons with communicable diseases, drug abusers, addicts, illiterates, and mentally disturbed persons who might pose a threat to the safety of others.

33 PRESENT IMMIGRATION POLICES: o More than 20 million non-immigrants mostly tourists, businessmen and women and students also come here each year for temporary stays.

34 Deportation: o Most civil rights laws set out in the Constitution are guaranteed to persons. o That term covers aliens as well as citizens. o In one important respect, however, the status of aliens is altogether unlike that of citizens: o Aliens may be subject to deportation that is, a legal process in which aliens are legally required to leave the United States.

35 Deportation: o An alien may be deported on any one of several grounds. o The most common today is illegal entry. o Thousands of aliens who enter with false papers, sneak in by ship or plane, or slip across the border at night are caught each year most of them by the Border Patrol, the police arm of the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

36 Deportation: o Conviction of any serious crime, federal or State, usually leads to a deportation order by the INS. o In recent years several thousand aliens have been expelled on the basis of their criminal records, especially narcotics violators.

37 UNDOCUMENTATED IMMIGRANTS: o INS estimates four to six million while Census estimates three and a half to five million. o According to the INS, at least half a million come every year. o Most of these undocumented persons enter the country by slipping across the Mexican or Canadian border, usually at night. o Some come with forged papers. o Many are aliens who entered legally, as nonimmigrants, but have now overstayed their legal welcomes.

38 UNDOCUMENTATED IMMIGRANTS: o Until 1987, undocumented aliens were able to be hired legally. o Employers liked hiring because of lower wages and substandard housing but added stress to the social services.

39 UNDOCUMENTATED IMMIGRANTS: o Congress passed the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 and then after another decade of debate and struggle the Illegal Immigration Restrictions Act of 1996.

40 Impact of 1986 Laws: o (1) It established an amnesty program under which many undocumented aliens could become legal residents. o The amnesty program was in effect for one year and more than two million aliens used it to legalize their status.

41 Impact of 1986 Laws: o (2) The law made it a crime for anyone to hire any person who is in this country illegally. o An employer who knowingly hires an undocumented alien can be fined from $250 to much as $10,000 and a repeat offender can be jailed up to six months.

42 Immigration Responsibility Act of 1996: o The 1996 law made it easier for the INS to deport illegal aliens by streamlining the deportation process. o Also toughened the penalties for smuggling aliens into this country, prevented undocumented aliens from qualifying for social security benefits or public housing and allowed state welfare workers to check the legal status of any alien who applies for any welfare benefit.

43 Immigration Responsibility Act of 1996: o New law also doubles the size of the border patrol. o 10,000 uniform officers by 2000.

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45 Discussion Questions What type of laws should America make in regards to immigration? Do you think American immigration laws are fair? Explain. How should America approach undocumented immigrants?