After Forming Deep Roots in U.S., Man Discovers He Isn’t a Citizen

[OnMyWayID 1,489]

In fact this story only proves there to be no need for a national id. This man is living a productive life without any papers. For his service in the military alone, he gets my thumbs up. He is as much an American as the rest of us. He earned it.

I would think it proves exactly the opposite.. The fact that he was a good person is not relevant, the fact that he could do what he did because the system has no way to know the truth is relevant. He has proven that it is possible.. If a national ID had been required he would have discovered and fixed the problem long long ago.

Edited May 19, 2014 by OnMyWayID

[JohnR! 5,495]

I would think it proves exactly the opposite.. The fact that he was a good person is not relevant, the fact that he could do what he did because the system has no way to know the truth is relevant. He has proven that it is possible.. If a national ID had been required he would have discovered and fixed the problem long long ago.

If a national ID had been required he would have received one, in the same manner he received his DL. Thanks, but no thanks. If you feel the need to carry a national ID by all means, apply for a passport and have it with you at all times. I'd rather not have to carry anything.

As far as fixing the problem, now that he had the need for a passport he found out the issue and he can now fix it.

Edited May 19, 2014 by Gegel

[OnMyWayID 1,489]

If a national ID had been required he would have received one, in the same manner he received his DL. Thanks, but no thanks. If you feel the need to carry a national ID by all means, apply for a passport and have it with you at all times. I'd rather not have to carry anything.

As far as fixing the problem, now that he had the need for a passport he found out the issue and he can now fix it.

You don't know that.. If a national ID required proof of residency or citizenship how would he have received one? How does getting passport fix the issue of voting or getting a job (which we will need to fix for a true solution to the illegal immigration problem).

If one was required for these things people like this man would have found out long ago and fixed the problem while not leaving the loopholes that will be abused in the future..

[Dakine10 5,452]

This is why I find his story so hard to believe. It's incredibly self serving while also being unlikely and probably impossible to prove. I'm struggling with whether or not it meets the standard of reasonable doubt.

He would have to have something compelling to back up why he thinks he received citizenship in the military. The unusual part of all this is that it happened 35 years ago. It may be hard to find witnesses. Obviously no paper trail exists.

His story may be self serving, but the alternative is also strange. If he really knew he was not a citizen, why didn't he go ahead and naturalize before. If he believed he was and then realized at some point he wasn't a citizen why didn't he correct it then. And why apply for a passport and blow his cover if he really knew he wasn't a citizen.

Also, this raises the question of to what extent ignorance is a valid defense.

Ignorance is not a defense. As far as immigration status, he will be inadmissible unless he can prove he had a legitimate reason to believe he was a USC. If he can, he meets the other criteria (parents are USC's, came to US before age 16) to defend against an inadmissiblity charge for claiming to be a USC.

He won't be deported so if he is found inadmissible, he will be able to stay, but he couldn't re-enter if he leaves the US and he can't adjust status or naturalize.

[Umka36 781]

Follow up article:

Immigration officials wrong to reject citizenship

http://news.yahoo.com/immigration-officials-wrong-reject-citizenship-172547624.html

[Dakine10 5,452]

Follow up article:

Immigration officials wrong to reject citizenship

http://news.yahoo.com/immigration-officials-wrong-reject-citizenship-172547624.html

Well they were definitely wrong, but they also moved uncharacteristically fast on this. Probably heading off a public relations nightmare. The online petion to naturalize him was closing in on 100,000 last time I looked.

I'm glad to see USCIS can move with a sense of urgency when applicable. I hope they continue in that regard.

[JohnR! 5,495]

Well they were definitely wrong, but they also moved uncharacteristically fast on this. Probably heading off a public relations nightmare. The online petion to naturalize him was closing in on 100,000 last time I looked.

I'm glad to see USCIS can move with a sense of urgency when applicable. I hope they continue in that regard.

In this case it was certainly a PR issue and in any case I too am glad they sorted him out. It would be nice if they could move speed up the IR/CR processes, especially for the F2As...

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

I'm glad to see USCIS can move with a sense of urgency when applicable. I hope they continue in that regard.

This much we can agree on