Unresolved Derivative Citizenship Should NOT Be Allowed

“EXCLUSIVE ALLEGIANCE TO THE USA”

by thinkwell, ©2015

(Aug. 25, 2015) — Pietro Santorum (Rick Santorum’s grandfather) was an Italian citizen living in Italy when his son Aldo (Rick’s father) was born in Italy on January 9, 1923. Pietro left his family behind temporarily in Italy to come to America on November 20, 1923, and naturalized to become a citizen of the United States on April 14, 1930. Aldo automatically got defacto derivative U.S. citizenship through his father, Pietro, when seven-year-old Aldo first arrived in the United States on August 23, 1930.

However, Rick Santorum’s father, Aldo, did not formally naturalize upon obtaining the age of majority because father and son never bothered with the process, thus Aldo never got any evidence that he was a U.S. citizen. So, on April 17, 1961 he filed for a Certificate of Citizenship, not to obtain citizenship which he already had since 1930, but only to obtain legal evidence of that citizenship (this was almost three years after Rick Santorum was born in 1958).

After high school, Aldo joined the Army Air Corps, serving most of World War II in the South Pacific where his main job was repairing airplanes. The Immigration and Naturalization Officer who reviewed his application recommended that his Certificate of Citizenship be granted, concluding:

“[T]he applicant did derive or acquire United States citizenship on August 23, 1930 through on which date he was a lawful permanent resident of the United States and under the age of 21 years, his father having been naturalized on April 14, 1930, his mother being an alien and that he has not been expatriated since that time.”

In 1958 when Rick Santorum was born, Aldo had not renounced his Italian citizenship, still retaining dual citizenship and allegiance. Aldo did not formally renounce his Italian citizenship until 1961 when he took the required oath of exclusive allegiance to the USA when he went to formalize his derivative citizenship.

Rick Santorum’s case a very concrete example of why the USA should never allow dual citizenship. This is not a problem in the case of former aliens (such as Rick’s grandfather, Pietro) who naturalize as adults because, as part of the process, they are required to renounce all former citizenships and allegiances. Thus, from the point of view of the USA, they then are legally 100 percent American and any detention, seizure or impressment of such a citizen by a foreign government (including by their former country) would be opposed as aggressively by our government as if one of our natural born Citizens had so been detained.

The sticky “tweener” problem only arises in certain cases of derivative citizenship, such as may have been the case with Aldo Santorum. The pertinent question regarding Rick Santorum’s status is: Did the USA consider Aldo to have become 100 percent American when he became a permanent resident of the USA in 1930 (regardless of whatever Italian policy was)? If the answer is YES, then Rick is good to go (for the presidency). If the answer is NO, then Rick was born with naturally divided allegiances (1/4 Italian and 3/4 American) and he might not be a true natural born Citizen.

Aldo Santorum fought and laid his life on the line for America in World War II. Many aliens who bravely fought for our side were granted immediate citizenship upon the conclusion of the war as a result (very much like the original founding fathers). I think Aldo’s actions in World War II proved that he was 100 percent American and perfected his citizenship if it hadn’t been already completed in 1930 or even if it had been in some sort of legal “grey zone” before the war. It seems that this is what the Naturalization Officer who reviewed his case concluded at the time.

The only way Rick Santorum would not actually be a natural born Citizen is if there existed some US law that clearly legally recognized Italy’s dual citizenship claims on Aldo up until 1961 when he went to get a formal record of his American citizenship. Even then, at least formally 3/4ths American (and clearly informally 100 percent American), Rick Santorum’s citizenship situation meets the spirit of the presidential eligibility law even if it actually does not properly dot all the I’s and cross all the T’s of the letter of the law. If he is not actually a natural born Citizen, he is about as borderline as one could possibly get. I am much more concerned about usurper aka obama and clear usurper wannabes Cruz, Rubio and Jindal.