Five ways to become a U.S. citizen

Plus questions prospective citizens answer to which many Americans may not know the answers.

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

If you are born in the United States, you are an American citizen. Period. End of story.

The 14th Amendment to the Constitution says so-called “birthright citizenship” is a right no matter your parents’ citizenship status. But President Donald Trump disagrees with my (and nearly every lawyer and judge’s) understanding of the Constitution and says if your parents were in the U.S. illegally when you were born, you aren’t a citizen. Since neither the president nor I are lawyers, we may need to wait until the Supreme Court reinterprets the 14th Amendment to find out who is correct.

In the meantime, here’s a simple explanation of birthright citizenship. If your Japanese parents are on vacation or in college in the U.S. and you are born in this country, one of your birthday presents is American citizenship. Just like the child born in the next room whose family has been in this country for 250 years.

“All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws,” says Section 1 of the 14th Amendment.

As I’ve said before: The Constitution and its amendments are short, simple and pretty easy to understand. If you’ve been paying attention to the news, you know why I’m quoting this in full. Earlier this week, news media reported that three children who are American citizens were among those deported to Honduras last week without due process by the Trump Administration.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement claims their non-citizen parents decided they wanted the children to be deported with their families. But the two family’s lawyers disagree, saying the mothers wanted their children to remain in the U.S., including one child who was being treated for cancer.

Trump set into motion his plan to deport immigrants (and American citizens) with one of his first executive orders. Order No. 14160 attempts to deny birthright citizenship for people born in this country, if their parents were here illegally. Three lawsuits against that order were quickly filed and the U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear the consolidated cases on May 15.

Other ways to become a U.S. citizen

The second way to become a U.S. citizen by birthright is to be born to American citizen parents anywhere else in the world.

The third way to become a citizen is by being a lawful resident of the U.S. who is under age 18 and the child of parents who become naturalized Americans. The underage children become citizens as well as long as just one of their parents becomes a citizen.

If you’re under age 18 and are adopted by U.S. citizens, you can become a citizen in the fourth way.

The fifth way to become an American citizen is through naturalization at age 18 or older. To go through this process, according to the government website, you must be:

• Lawful permanent resident (Green Card holder) of five years

• Married to a U.S. citizen and lawful permanent resident for three years

• U.S. military service member (active duty or veteran)

• Child of a U.S. citizen

That fourth category is interesting. Let’s say your father served in the U.S. military overseas, got a local woman pregnant and went home and left the woman and child behind. If you fit this category, you can apply for citizenship after you turn 18.

If you meet the other requirements, the naturalization process involves filling out a form, taking a test, being interviewed and taking an oath. You also need to have basic English skills, but there are exemptions for some requirements if you meet certain age or disability requirements.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigrant Services offers a list of possible questions and answers for the citizenship test online, if you want to test your knowledge.

The test

Here are some of the questions to which many Americans may not know the answers:

• Name one U.S. territory.

• Name one of the two longest rivers in the U.S.

• Name one American Indian tribe in the U.S.

• Before he was president, Eisenhower was a general in which war?

• What did Susan B. Anthony do?

• Name one of the writers of the Federalist Papers that supported the passage of the U.S. Constitution.

• Name three of the original 13 states.

• Name two ways that Americans can participate in their democracy.

• What is one promise you make when you become a U.S. citizen?

What about dreamers?

People who were brought to the United States as children took their first steps toward citizenship in 2012 when President Barack Obama established the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. The program has been in and out of the courts and the subject of various proposed new laws ever since.

On Jan. 17, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the FIfth Circuit issued a decision that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will continue to accept and process DACA renewal requests but won’t process new applications. So until Congress acts, these people will continue to live as legal residents in this country, while going to college and working.

Both Democrats and Republicans have supported bills that would give these more than half a million DACA recipients a path toward citizenship. But they’re still waiting.

The current program that was confirmed by the courts earlier this year seems to protect DACA recipients from deportation as long as they continue to renew their status. But now that ICE has started deporting actual U.S. citizens, I would imagine that dreamers are at least a bit nervous.

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