Japan Herald: US legislators say foreign-born citizens may have to go

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http://story.japanherald.com/index.p...d/632019/cs/1/

US legislators say foreign-born citizens may have to go

Japan Herald
Thursday 6th May, 2010

US legislators, angered by the failed New York bomb attack on the weekend, have started putting up reasons why legislation should be brought in to strip foreign-born Americans of their citizenship if they join foreign terrorist groups.

A measure, proposed by independent Senator Joe Lieberman and Republican Senator Scott Brown, is to be put to the Senate, while a companion bill will also be presented to the House.

The proposal, which has already been summarised, will target Americans who provide material support or resources to a groups labelled by the US State Department as being engaged in hostilities against the United States or its allies.

Intended to deal with US nationals who take up arms with the goal of killing other Americans, the summary says these Americans should forfeit their rights to American citizenship or other nationality status, "just as they would if they had joined the armed forces of any nation with whom the United States was at war."

The new proposal would still allow an individual to challenge in federal court the US State Department's decision to strip them of their citizenship, with the burden of proof falling on the government.

Inspired by the failed Times Square plot, the bill especially targets al-Qaeda and other foreign terrorist organisations which are not covered by the existing expatriation law because they are not foreign states.