U.S. Denying, Revoking Passports for Hispanics Born Near Mexico Border

[EuTuCroquet?]

The Government Is Revoking Passports of Hispanic U.S. Citizens

Some U.S. citizens are being stripped of their passports, with their citizenship called into question, according to a startling new report.
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Despite the State Department’s assurances that there have been no policy changes, the Post found through interviews conducted with individuals and immigration attorneys that there has been a “dramatic shift in both passport issuance and immigration enforcement.”

One immigration attorney in Brownsville, Jaime Diez, told the Post that he’s had at least 20 clients, all American citizens, who have been sent to detention centers. In some instances, ICE reportedly appeared at their homes “without notice and taken passports away.” Another attorney interviewed for the article, Jennifer Correro, said that she has seen the number of cases involving the revocation of passports “skyrocket.”

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[Jennifer17]

Good heavens!

 

[EuTuCroquet?]

US Citizenships Questioned by Immigration Authorities

The Post covered the story of Juan, who was born in Brownsville, Texas. He was a private in the Army, a cadet in the Border Patrol, and is currently a state prison guard. The State Department requested “evidence of his mother’s prenatal care, his baptismal certificate, (or) rental agreements from when he was a baby.”

Though Juan provided some of the documentation, he was still denied a passport.​

 

[Jennifer17]

US Citizenships Questioned by Immigration Authorities

The Post covered the story of Juan, who was born in Brownsville, Texas. He was a private in the Army, a cadet in the Border Patrol, and is currently a state prison guard. The State Department requested “evidence of his mother’s prenatal care, his baptismal certificate, (or) rental agreements from when he was a baby.”

Though Juan provided some of the documentation, he was still denied a passport.​

Can that be legal? If he has a US birth certificate doesn't that make him a US citizen?

 

[EuTuCroquet?]

Report: Increase In U.S. Denying Passports To Americans At The Border

Here & Now's Robin Young discusses what's happening with Efrén Olivares, a lawyer with the Texas Civil Rights Project.
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Direct link to NPR audio report: Report: Increase In U.S. Denying Passports To Americans At The Border | WBUR

 

[EuTuCroquet?]

Can that be legal? If he has a US birth certificate doesn't that make him a US citizen?

"What's the issue? The possibility of fraud, according to the State Department. "[T]he U.S.-Mexico border region happens to be an area of the country where there has been a significant incidence of citizenship fraud," the agency told the Post, citing evidence from the 1950s through the '90s that showed some midwives and physicians along the border provided U.S. birth certificates to babies actually born in Mexico."

Link: U.S. Denying, Revoking Passports for Hispanics Born Near Mexico Border

bbm

That doesn't mean that's what happened in Juan's case. He was just blocked and denied, from what I understand from the story.

 

[EuTuCroquet?]

Here's the WaPo story. It was picked up by Red Eye Chicago. (No paywall.)

U.S. is denying passports to Americans along the border, throwing their citizenship into question

But cases identified by The Washington Post and interviews with immigration attorneys suggest a dramatic shift in both passport issuance and immigration enforcement.

In some cases, passport applicants with official U.S. birth certificates are being jailed in immigration detention centers and entered into deportation proceedings. In others, they are stuck in Mexico, their passports suddenly revoked when they tried to re-enter the United States. As the Trump administration attempts to reduce both legal and illegal immigration, the government's treatment of passport applicants in south Texas shows how U.S. citizens are increasingly being swept up by immigration enforcement agencies.

Juan said he was infuriated by the government's response. "I served my country. I fought for my country," he said, speaking on the condition that his last name not be used so that he wouldn't be targeted by immigration enforcement.

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