December 11, 2025 • 18 mins
Senator Bernie Moreno is introducing legilation that would end dual citizenship in the United State. Immigration expert Agustina Vergara Cid joins Scott to explain the good points of the bill, and why it could result in a big disaster for many naturalized American citizens.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Do you want to be an American media?
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Here we go, come before the storm, so to speak,
so to speak slowly on seven hundred WLW see winter
weather starts to move in. Got till tonight, then all
hall is going to break loose. So between now and then,
it's me and you this morning. And one of the
topics of interest today, at least that I found interesting,
is the end of dual citizenship in America. I don't
(00:23):
actually have the numbers in front of you. Probably if
I were better at my job, i'd looked that up.
But anyway, Bernie Moreno, our own Bernie Moreno, has proposed
the Exclusive Citizenship Act of twenty twenty five, and it
literally is ignited one of the most explosive civil liberities
debates in a long time. So dual citizenship is fully
legal right now, but the bill threatens to force millions
(00:45):
of Americans into a one year ultimatum. So you'd have
to make up your mind, and that is to abandon
your US passport and lose your citizenship automatically. You've choose
one team or the other. No more dual citizens in
the United States. And we'll get how that works in
just a second here. But first on the show is
Augustina Virgara Seed. On the show, she writes with the
(01:08):
Hill on RCPs, I'll say a young voice is senior
contributor Augustina, good morning, how are you?
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Good morning, Scott, Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Yeah, I got you. So let's just jump in.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Let me run down the list and kind of the
people aren't following this. You may not be following this entirely.
So here's what we had to do. Correct me if
I'm wrong, if I miss anything here too, It'd be
unlawful to hold US citizenship and any foreign citizenship at
the same time, and it'd take one hundred and take
effect one hundred eighty days after enactment. So for future citizens,
basically what happened is anybody who voluntary acquires foreign citizenship
(01:43):
after the effective date automatically loses their US citizenship, and
you would obtain a new foreign passport would also lose
your US citizenship if you're a current dual citizen. There's
a one year deadline, So within one year of enactment,
you have to choose a renounce your foreign citizens to
the State Department or be renounce your US citizenship to
(02:03):
Department of homeland security. And if you don't choose, then
you by default will give up your US citizenship. So
anyone who is born with a dual nationality, naturalized US citizens,
who retained original citizenship, Americans abroad who required foreignationality through
marriage or dissent or naturalization, that's what's in play here.
(02:24):
Did I miss anything important? Those all the facets of this.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Yeah, that's essentially what the bill is trying to do.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
Yes, could you tell us why?
Speaker 2 (02:33):
I mean, I get immigration, I understand that, I understand
that there's a concerned about who's in our country.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
We need to know who that is.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
But and I suppose that there's concern that someone who
holds citizenship from China or Russia could be working in
sensitive US positions would be an example. I think that's
a valid worry. But why aren't we addressing it in
that fashion as opposed to just a blanket uster them philosophy.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
Yeah, so it's a good question why this is allegedly
needed or and why? Now I read the bill, and
the bill does not have any really substantial destination of
why this is needed. So the build friends dual citizenship
as a potential source of alleged conflicts of interest or
divided loyalties, but the bill never defines what that means.
(03:24):
Those are essentially just buzzwords that really, if without any
sort of replanation, really don't mean much. So I think
that really this is a solutional search for a problem.
I don't think that dual citizenship or multiple citizenship in
America is a problem that needs Congress to step in
and fix. Really, dual citizenship does not represent a threat
(03:46):
of any kind, and people who hold dual citizenship, by
myself am one such person. I do not have any
sort of do not represent a thread or anything in America.
But you just said that, Okay, maybe there might be
you know, sensitive positions that require that someone be native born, like,
(04:08):
for example, a constitution mandates that a person who is
naturalized cannot become pressed in the United States, or you
know that requires really you know, that that person has
only one citizenship. Then okay, that's great, let's address those
positions specifically. But there is really no reason to try
to impose only one citizenship on the rest of Americans.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
Yeah, and if you're worried about you know, spying, and
that's what this is, maybe that would prevent that summer.
I think you're still going to wind up getting you know,
sources and the like. I mean, look at how many
people have committed to reason who are naturally born US
citizens don't hold those those and there are US citizens
they are born here, their families here, who have committed
these types of crimes in the past. So that doesn't
(04:49):
seem to be good indicator if it's a national security issue.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
Yeah, absolutely, there's really no This is not a threat.
And like when I judge the and laws, like, I
think they should pass one big test, which is does
this bill or these all do they protect the vision rights?
Like is there a need to pass this bill in
order to protect the visual rights as or constitution man made?
(05:15):
If the answer is no, then we have a problem.
And I really don't think that this bill is protecting
anyone's in the visual rights because there's really no threat
from holding multiple citizenships.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
Right, the fourteenth Amendment is pretty clear anyone born in
the US as a citizen. We'd have to change if
someone's born in America, say to I don't know, Canadian
parents just Canada automatically confer citizenship at birth, And how
can Congress force that person to choose without violating birthright citizenship.
That's going to be a tricky one to navigate.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Yes, I think the bill poses many challenges in implementation,
and I do think that it's an constitutional because of
the Fourteenth Amendment, because what it asks, like you mentioned earlier,
what it asked Americans to do is if they hold
another citizenship and if they are native born and they
have American citizenship, because of the fourteenth Amendment that you mentioned,
(06:07):
it's forcing them to choose, and if they don't choose,
then their America's citizenship is taken away, and that is
not constitutional. You cannot take citizenship away from a native
born American unless e commit triaism, which not choosing a
citizenship is not an act of treason. I think, for instance,
(06:28):
like you said, that people who have who are native
born Americans and who have dual citizenship because of their
parents who might be from another country. I always think
of this example. There's a you know, m or rat
and Brown, the wide receiver from the Detroit Lions. He
has dual citizenship. He's American and he's German because his
(06:48):
mother is German. So we are asking Amaranpian Brown and
millions of other Americans who were native born to choose
nationality for really no reason, because it does not pose
any sort of stress. They do not post any sort
of threat to America, and I'm not violating anyone's individual rights.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
I wonder how this is gonna work, Augustina with there's
countries like for example, Ireland, Italy in Israel in particular,
that actively encourage Americans to claim citizenship because of their
ancestry because of a Jewish law. This would essentially then
force those Americans to reject those ties. We know that
(07:27):
the ties and the support that this administration gives Israel,
that's not a good look. Or do they just say, well,
unless you're from Israel, it's a different story, which make
it very well and it just waters down the intent,
whatever intent that is of this particular proposal.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Yes, that's one of the many reasons why I think
this is really not gonna work, including because look, for example,
I become an American this year, in July of this year,
and I could talk half an hour about what that
means to me and why exclusively be of my life
to be an American. But if I had to choose
between my two nationalities, I can't because I am originally
(08:07):
from Argentina, and Argentina does not renounce the citizenship because
I was born there, So that would mean that if
this bill were to pass, that would mean that I
would have to give up being an American because my
country of birth, which I didn't choose, does not allow
me to renounce my citizenship. And how is that fair?
(08:28):
Like I worked for decades to become an American, and
I'm a proud American and I took a note of
a llisions to this country. Why would someone want to
take that away from me? And I have literally no choice.
And there are other countries that also don't allow the
renunciation of their of the citizenship. I think Costa Rica
is one such country, and those people like me would
(08:50):
have absolutely no option. And thress people who have ties
to other countries Israel or whatever other country, and there
is no reason to make them choose a few of
reasons why people would hold multiple citizenships because they were
born there, because of cosural ties, because of tax reasons,
sometimes because they are American and their spouse and they
(09:10):
live abroad with their spouse, and they for several reasons
referred to have that citizenship as well. And there's really
no reason to make them choose.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Augustina Virgara Seed on the show She Rich of the
Hill RCP, is a young voice and senior contributor and
talking about Senator Bernie Moreno's exclusive citizenship app as Citizenship
Act of twenty twenty five that essentially would divide Americans
a sense that if you hold dual citizenship here, you'd
have to renounce one of those, either with US or
(09:39):
against US. I guess as the mindset here, but you're talking,
I mean little millions of millions of people like yourself
that hold dual citizenship, and it's probably difficult enough for you.
But you recently became a citizen of the country.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
I've seen it. Why Why the hell would you want
to come here?
Speaker 1 (09:57):
Why wouldn't I? So I could say so much about this,
but essentially, I've been in love with America and America's
promise and what American represents since I basically first became
aware of the existence of America when I was a
little kid, and growing up, I realized that America is special.
(10:20):
America is different from any other countries. America is different
from the country where I was born and the values.
Growing up, I started studying American history and American political philosophy,
and I realized what an incredible achievement the American Founding
was historically philosophically, it truly is unique in human history.
(10:41):
And that is not just an abstract idea. That is
something that we see reflecting the freedoms that we enjoy
every day. America is literally, and I don't want and
I say this knowing the full meaning of it. America
is literally the best most moral country in the world
in it Founding principles, and I wanted to be part
(11:03):
of that. I wanted to live here and enjoy the
freedoms that our amazing Founding values allows us to have.
And truly, I am so so proud of in America.
And it's honedly an honor.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
And I would think that that sediment you just so
articularly describe describes a lot of people who hold dual citizenships.
And I'm sure someone's listening right now. And the case
you just made for becoming in America, which is a
difficult thing. It takes a tremendous amount of effort. We're
just born to do it. You had to work to
get here. I don't know how we could tell someone
like you.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
No, yeah, I know that. You know, maybe not everybody
has studied in detail the political philosophy the United States,
but you know, in an implicit manner, they do. I
know so many people who are either immigrants to America
or that are naturalized citizens, and they do love this
country so much, and they do value the freedoms that
(11:55):
we have, and this is their country that they actually
chose me into America as I'm sure that many people
at this point. No, it's not easy to do. It's
really really hard to do it. It's really hard to
do it legally, which you know is the only path
to becoming a citizen, and we go through all that
trouble because we really really value this country. This country
(12:18):
is worth it. So yeah, it's really unfair, I think,
to you know, to impose this very onerous requirement of
people like me who truly love this country.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
And the other thing, too is the practical implementation. I mean, okay,
it gives you, if this is enacted in past, it
gives people like yourself to those citizens one year to
pick the United States or the country you also hold
citizenship in. But I mean, how do you even do
this administratively? It's not like we have a comprehensive database
of people who hold foreign citizenship and the light we
(12:53):
know you have a you know, your old status here.
But I mean, how would you even go through the
notification produce It seems impossible.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
Yes, including because there is no registry of who polls
the world citizenship for multiple citizenship in America, So how
are we going to know? And yeah, it would be
a bureaucratic nightmare to do that, and it would be
so expensive, it will require so many resources, such payer money,
in order to just exclude people who for whatever reason
(13:24):
can't make a choice like myself, or just for whatever
reason do not want to make a choice. But they
are just as American as anybody else.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Yeah, and you're talking about a sizeable amount of the
other element here too, is that Okay, let's say maybe
you want to again. You go, okay, I'll be in America.
I'm going to renounce my Argentinian citizenship. You renounce that.
But what if the foreign country simply refused the process
that or just it's like okay, well fine, you want
to announce. It's going to cost you, I don't know,
two hundred thousand dollars to do that. Or it just
(13:54):
takes a lot longer than a year for them to
process all that stuff with this, so you can lose
your US citizenship. There's no fault her on. I mean, sure,
that's a pretty big do process violation, I would think,
would you agree.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
Yes, absolutely, I agree with that because the status of
the other citizenship has nothing to do with whatever the
US government decides decides to do. And like in the
case of like, like I said, like myself, I literally
cannot legally renounce my citizenship because Argentina does not allow it.
I will never stop being in Argentinian even if I try,
(14:28):
because it is illegal. Like, I literally cannot legally renowned citizenship.
So what do we do there? Should I these strips
with my citizenship because of you know, the Argentina a lot,
and I'd never chose to be born there. That's that's
not right. And yeah, like you said, it can take
a long time to you know, renounce some some other
country citizenship, and it might be really expensive and there
(14:51):
might be you know, it might require years older, Like
there's so many things that can happen that you know,
it's not a straightforward process, and that one year deadline,
it's really just not going to work.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
Yeah, I went down.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
I think because you're talking about millions of people here too,
and trying to have them process that would be extremely difficult.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
I think in a lot of these cases.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
So how much is this then, Augustine, do you think
this is actually is this just political posturing?
Speaker 3 (15:15):
Is this his bluster?
Speaker 2 (15:16):
And I mean Bernie Marina proposes this, but does he
actually think it as a chance of passing or just
does it to offer I guess the core a gesture
saying hey, I'm getting tough on immigrants here in the
United States. It doesn't seem like, you know, there's a
big movement to get this passed, but along all the
details we just laid out and probably countless more make
it feel like it's an impossibility.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
Is this just posturing?
Speaker 1 (15:40):
I think there's there has to be some of that, because,
like I said, I read the bill. There's really four
pages and that's not a lot. And I don't think honestly,
when I read the bill, I was expecting to find,
you know, a long explanation why we need this. I
was expecting to find a longer explanation of how this
is actually going to work. The build laxing details, and
(16:02):
that makes me think that there is not a lot
of effort put into actually trying to make this to
persuade uh, you know, the Congress to pass this bill.
So and I know there's obviously there's gonna be if
this build is debated, there's going to be like a
whole debate and they're going to explain what it's about.
But like, I don't see it as a genuine effort
(16:25):
to solve a problem because there is no such problem.
Like I said, I think this also comes at a
time where immigration is a it's a hot topic. Obviously
there is you know a lot of nationalism and rejection
of anything foreign, including people. And it comes also at
a time where Alcolo administration has been also weaponizing not
(16:48):
a citizenship as well. You know, they have threatened some people,
including ether Mask himself from you know, you know away
there's citizenship. So it's I think a way of playing
into this nationalism that is an e vogue in unfortunate
in America right now. And I really, I really think
I think this is really awful because even if it
(17:10):
doesn't pass, which it will not pass, I can guarantee
you that this is scaring a lot of people. I
have gotten so many messages from people saying, hey, am
I going to have to renounce my US city? Like
what's going what's going on? I don't know what to do.
It's really scaring people. And some of the media also,
you know, does not do not help because they frame
it in a way as if sties were a fact.
(17:30):
But this is just a bill. But yeah, it's scaring
a lot of people. And I don't I think it's
actually introducing this debate right now. It's actually a disservice.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Agree, I agree with. I guess it's it's politics is
worse in my opinion. It's just more posturing with no
intent of actually anything passed. But it's a gesture to
whom I don't know. But I think the country is
better people like yourself, you know, provided your you're paying taxes,
you're working, you're educated, you're contributing.
Speaker 3 (17:56):
That's what we need. I gotta go. I appreciate the time.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
Augustina Gergara Seed from the Hill and RCP and Young Voices,
thanks again, thank you so much, appreciate it. Let me
get a news update and of course we get the weather.
We'll get the latest timelines out for you. Here, just
seconds away, slowly seven hundred ww
Do you want to be an American media?
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Here we go, come before the storm, so to speak,
so to speak slowly on seven hundred WLW see winter
weather starts to move in. Got till tonight, then all
hall is going to break loose. So between now and then,
it's me and you this morning. And one of the
topics of interest today, at least that I found interesting,
is the end of dual citizenship in America. I don't
(00:23):
actually have the numbers in front of you. Probably if
I were better at my job, i'd looked that up.
But anyway, Bernie Moreno, our own Bernie Moreno, has proposed
the Exclusive Citizenship Act of twenty twenty five, and it
literally is ignited one of the most explosive civil liberities
debates in a long time. So dual citizenship is fully
legal right now, but the bill threatens to force millions
(00:45):
of Americans into a one year ultimatum. So you'd have
to make up your mind, and that is to abandon
your US passport and lose your citizenship automatically. You've choose
one team or the other. No more dual citizens in
the United States. And we'll get how that works in
just a second here. But first on the show is
Augustina Virgara Seed. On the show, she writes with the
(01:08):
Hill on RCPs, I'll say a young voice is senior
contributor Augustina, good morning, how are you?
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Good morning, Scott, Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Yeah, I got you. So let's just jump in.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Let me run down the list and kind of the
people aren't following this. You may not be following this entirely.
So here's what we had to do. Correct me if
I'm wrong, if I miss anything here too, It'd be
unlawful to hold US citizenship and any foreign citizenship at
the same time, and it'd take one hundred and take
effect one hundred eighty days after enactment. So for future citizens,
basically what happened is anybody who voluntary acquires foreign citizenship
(01:43):
after the effective date automatically loses their US citizenship, and
you would obtain a new foreign passport would also lose
your US citizenship if you're a current dual citizen. There's
a one year deadline, So within one year of enactment,
you have to choose a renounce your foreign citizens to
the State Department or be renounce your US citizenship to
(02:03):
Department of homeland security. And if you don't choose, then
you by default will give up your US citizenship. So
anyone who is born with a dual nationality, naturalized US citizens,
who retained original citizenship, Americans abroad who required foreignationality through
marriage or dissent or naturalization, that's what's in play here.
(02:24):
Did I miss anything important? Those all the facets of this.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Yeah, that's essentially what the bill is trying to do.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
Yes, could you tell us why?
Speaker 2 (02:33):
I mean, I get immigration, I understand that, I understand
that there's a concerned about who's in our country.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
We need to know who that is.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
But and I suppose that there's concern that someone who
holds citizenship from China or Russia could be working in
sensitive US positions would be an example. I think that's
a valid worry. But why aren't we addressing it in
that fashion as opposed to just a blanket uster them philosophy.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
Yeah, so it's a good question why this is allegedly
needed or and why? Now I read the bill, and
the bill does not have any really substantial destination of
why this is needed. So the build friends dual citizenship
as a potential source of alleged conflicts of interest or
divided loyalties, but the bill never defines what that means.
(03:24):
Those are essentially just buzzwords that really, if without any
sort of replanation, really don't mean much. So I think
that really this is a solutional search for a problem.
I don't think that dual citizenship or multiple citizenship in
America is a problem that needs Congress to step in
and fix. Really, dual citizenship does not represent a threat
(03:46):
of any kind, and people who hold dual citizenship, by
myself am one such person. I do not have any
sort of do not represent a thread or anything in America.
But you just said that, Okay, maybe there might be
you know, sensitive positions that require that someone be native born, like,
(04:08):
for example, a constitution mandates that a person who is
naturalized cannot become pressed in the United States, or you
know that requires really you know, that that person has
only one citizenship. Then okay, that's great, let's address those
positions specifically. But there is really no reason to try
to impose only one citizenship on the rest of Americans.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
Yeah, and if you're worried about you know, spying, and
that's what this is, maybe that would prevent that summer.
I think you're still going to wind up getting you know,
sources and the like. I mean, look at how many
people have committed to reason who are naturally born US
citizens don't hold those those and there are US citizens
they are born here, their families here, who have committed
these types of crimes in the past. So that doesn't
(04:49):
seem to be good indicator if it's a national security issue.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
Yeah, absolutely, there's really no This is not a threat.
And like when I judge the and laws, like, I
think they should pass one big test, which is does
this bill or these all do they protect the vision rights?
Like is there a need to pass this bill in
order to protect the visual rights as or constitution man made?
(05:15):
If the answer is no, then we have a problem.
And I really don't think that this bill is protecting
anyone's in the visual rights because there's really no threat
from holding multiple citizenships.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
Right, the fourteenth Amendment is pretty clear anyone born in
the US as a citizen. We'd have to change if
someone's born in America, say to I don't know, Canadian
parents just Canada automatically confer citizenship at birth, And how
can Congress force that person to choose without violating birthright citizenship.
That's going to be a tricky one to navigate.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Yes, I think the bill poses many challenges in implementation,
and I do think that it's an constitutional because of
the Fourteenth Amendment, because what it asks, like you mentioned earlier,
what it asked Americans to do is if they hold
another citizenship and if they are native born and they
have American citizenship, because of the fourteenth Amendment that you mentioned,
(06:07):
it's forcing them to choose, and if they don't choose,
then their America's citizenship is taken away, and that is
not constitutional. You cannot take citizenship away from a native
born American unless e commit triaism, which not choosing a
citizenship is not an act of treason. I think, for instance,
(06:28):
like you said, that people who have who are native
born Americans and who have dual citizenship because of their
parents who might be from another country. I always think
of this example. There's a you know, m or rat
and Brown, the wide receiver from the Detroit Lions. He
has dual citizenship. He's American and he's German because his
(06:48):
mother is German. So we are asking Amaranpian Brown and
millions of other Americans who were native born to choose
nationality for really no reason, because it does not pose
any sort of stress. They do not post any sort
of threat to America, and I'm not violating anyone's individual rights.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
I wonder how this is gonna work, Augustina with there's
countries like for example, Ireland, Italy in Israel in particular,
that actively encourage Americans to claim citizenship because of their
ancestry because of a Jewish law. This would essentially then
force those Americans to reject those ties. We know that
(07:27):
the ties and the support that this administration gives Israel,
that's not a good look. Or do they just say, well,
unless you're from Israel, it's a different story, which make
it very well and it just waters down the intent,
whatever intent that is of this particular proposal.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Yes, that's one of the many reasons why I think
this is really not gonna work, including because look, for example,
I become an American this year, in July of this year,
and I could talk half an hour about what that
means to me and why exclusively be of my life
to be an American. But if I had to choose
between my two nationalities, I can't because I am originally
(08:07):
from Argentina, and Argentina does not renounce the citizenship because
I was born there, So that would mean that if
this bill were to pass, that would mean that I
would have to give up being an American because my
country of birth, which I didn't choose, does not allow
me to renounce my citizenship. And how is that fair?
(08:28):
Like I worked for decades to become an American, and
I'm a proud American and I took a note of
a llisions to this country. Why would someone want to
take that away from me? And I have literally no choice.
And there are other countries that also don't allow the
renunciation of their of the citizenship. I think Costa Rica
is one such country, and those people like me would
(08:50):
have absolutely no option. And thress people who have ties
to other countries Israel or whatever other country, and there
is no reason to make them choose a few of
reasons why people would hold multiple citizenships because they were
born there, because of cosural ties, because of tax reasons,
sometimes because they are American and their spouse and they
(09:10):
live abroad with their spouse, and they for several reasons
referred to have that citizenship as well. And there's really
no reason to make them choose.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Augustina Virgara Seed on the show She Rich of the
Hill RCP, is a young voice and senior contributor and
talking about Senator Bernie Moreno's exclusive citizenship app as Citizenship
Act of twenty twenty five that essentially would divide Americans
a sense that if you hold dual citizenship here, you'd
have to renounce one of those, either with US or
(09:39):
against US. I guess as the mindset here, but you're talking,
I mean little millions of millions of people like yourself
that hold dual citizenship, and it's probably difficult enough for you.
But you recently became a citizen of the country.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
I've seen it. Why Why the hell would you want
to come here?
Speaker 1 (09:57):
Why wouldn't I? So I could say so much about this,
but essentially, I've been in love with America and America's
promise and what American represents since I basically first became
aware of the existence of America when I was a
little kid, and growing up, I realized that America is special.
(10:20):
America is different from any other countries. America is different
from the country where I was born and the values.
Growing up, I started studying American history and American political philosophy,
and I realized what an incredible achievement the American Founding
was historically philosophically, it truly is unique in human history.
(10:41):
And that is not just an abstract idea. That is
something that we see reflecting the freedoms that we enjoy
every day. America is literally, and I don't want and
I say this knowing the full meaning of it. America
is literally the best most moral country in the world
in it Founding principles, and I wanted to be part
(11:03):
of that. I wanted to live here and enjoy the
freedoms that our amazing Founding values allows us to have.
And truly, I am so so proud of in America.
And it's honedly an honor.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
And I would think that that sediment you just so
articularly describe describes a lot of people who hold dual citizenships.
And I'm sure someone's listening right now. And the case
you just made for becoming in America, which is a
difficult thing. It takes a tremendous amount of effort. We're
just born to do it. You had to work to
get here. I don't know how we could tell someone
like you.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
No, yeah, I know that. You know, maybe not everybody
has studied in detail the political philosophy the United States,
but you know, in an implicit manner, they do. I
know so many people who are either immigrants to America
or that are naturalized citizens, and they do love this
country so much, and they do value the freedoms that
(11:55):
we have, and this is their country that they actually
chose me into America as I'm sure that many people
at this point. No, it's not easy to do. It's
really really hard to do it. It's really hard to
do it legally, which you know is the only path
to becoming a citizen, and we go through all that
trouble because we really really value this country. This country
(12:18):
is worth it. So yeah, it's really unfair, I think,
to you know, to impose this very onerous requirement of
people like me who truly love this country.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
And the other thing, too is the practical implementation. I mean, okay,
it gives you, if this is enacted in past, it
gives people like yourself to those citizens one year to
pick the United States or the country you also hold
citizenship in. But I mean, how do you even do
this administratively? It's not like we have a comprehensive database
of people who hold foreign citizenship and the light we
(12:53):
know you have a you know, your old status here.
But I mean, how would you even go through the
notification produce It seems impossible.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
Yes, including because there is no registry of who polls
the world citizenship for multiple citizenship in America, So how
are we going to know? And yeah, it would be
a bureaucratic nightmare to do that, and it would be
so expensive, it will require so many resources, such payer money,
in order to just exclude people who for whatever reason
(13:24):
can't make a choice like myself, or just for whatever
reason do not want to make a choice. But they
are just as American as anybody else.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Yeah, and you're talking about a sizeable amount of the
other element here too, is that Okay, let's say maybe
you want to again. You go, okay, I'll be in America.
I'm going to renounce my Argentinian citizenship. You renounce that.
But what if the foreign country simply refused the process
that or just it's like okay, well fine, you want
to announce. It's going to cost you, I don't know,
two hundred thousand dollars to do that. Or it just
(13:54):
takes a lot longer than a year for them to
process all that stuff with this, so you can lose
your US citizenship. There's no fault her on. I mean, sure,
that's a pretty big do process violation, I would think,
would you agree.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
Yes, absolutely, I agree with that because the status of
the other citizenship has nothing to do with whatever the
US government decides decides to do. And like in the
case of like, like I said, like myself, I literally
cannot legally renounce my citizenship because Argentina does not allow it.
I will never stop being in Argentinian even if I try,
(14:28):
because it is illegal. Like, I literally cannot legally renowned citizenship.
So what do we do there? Should I these strips
with my citizenship because of you know, the Argentina a lot,
and I'd never chose to be born there. That's that's
not right. And yeah, like you said, it can take
a long time to you know, renounce some some other
country citizenship, and it might be really expensive and there
(14:51):
might be you know, it might require years older, Like
there's so many things that can happen that you know,
it's not a straightforward process, and that one year deadline,
it's really just not going to work.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
Yeah, I went down.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
I think because you're talking about millions of people here too,
and trying to have them process that would be extremely difficult.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
I think in a lot of these cases.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
So how much is this then, Augustine, do you think
this is actually is this just political posturing?
Speaker 3 (15:15):
Is this his bluster?
Speaker 2 (15:16):
And I mean Bernie Marina proposes this, but does he
actually think it as a chance of passing or just
does it to offer I guess the core a gesture
saying hey, I'm getting tough on immigrants here in the
United States. It doesn't seem like, you know, there's a
big movement to get this passed, but along all the
details we just laid out and probably countless more make
it feel like it's an impossibility.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
Is this just posturing?
Speaker 1 (15:40):
I think there's there has to be some of that, because,
like I said, I read the bill. There's really four
pages and that's not a lot. And I don't think honestly,
when I read the bill, I was expecting to find,
you know, a long explanation why we need this. I
was expecting to find a longer explanation of how this
is actually going to work. The build laxing details, and
(16:02):
that makes me think that there is not a lot
of effort put into actually trying to make this to
persuade uh, you know, the Congress to pass this bill.
So and I know there's obviously there's gonna be if
this build is debated, there's going to be like a
whole debate and they're going to explain what it's about.
But like, I don't see it as a genuine effort
(16:25):
to solve a problem because there is no such problem.
Like I said, I think this also comes at a
time where immigration is a it's a hot topic. Obviously
there is you know a lot of nationalism and rejection
of anything foreign, including people. And it comes also at
a time where Alcolo administration has been also weaponizing not
(16:48):
a citizenship as well. You know, they have threatened some people,
including ether Mask himself from you know, you know away
there's citizenship. So it's I think a way of playing
into this nationalism that is an e vogue in unfortunate
in America right now. And I really, I really think
I think this is really awful because even if it
(17:10):
doesn't pass, which it will not pass, I can guarantee
you that this is scaring a lot of people. I
have gotten so many messages from people saying, hey, am
I going to have to renounce my US city? Like
what's going what's going on? I don't know what to do.
It's really scaring people. And some of the media also,
you know, does not do not help because they frame
it in a way as if sties were a fact.
(17:30):
But this is just a bill. But yeah, it's scaring
a lot of people. And I don't I think it's
actually introducing this debate right now. It's actually a disservice.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Agree, I agree with. I guess it's it's politics is
worse in my opinion. It's just more posturing with no
intent of actually anything passed. But it's a gesture to
whom I don't know. But I think the country is
better people like yourself, you know, provided your you're paying taxes,
you're working, you're educated, you're contributing.
Speaker 3 (17:56):
That's what we need. I gotta go. I appreciate the time.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
Augustina Gergara Seed from the Hill and RCP and Young Voices,
thanks again, thank you so much, appreciate it. Let me
get a news update and of course we get the weather.
We'll get the latest timelines out for you. Here, just
seconds away, slowly seven hundred ww
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