Renouncing U.S. citizenship is about to get a lot more expensive

Precise legislative language for Cruz’s proposal was not available, but a summary provided by his office included the caveat that the measure would only apply to an American who “undertakes these acts with the intent of supplanting his U.S. Citizenship with loyalty to a terrorist organization.”

The State Department signaled resistance to the proposal that such people be stripped of their rights.

“We have the authority now to revoke their passports under U.S. law if the secretary makes a determination about their threat to U.S. national security.  We already have that power,” Marie Harf, a deputy spokesperson for the department, said. “We also have the power if there’s a law enforcement request to revoke their passport if there’s an outstanding warrant, or something like that.”

Previous efforts to modify U.S. law along these lines have failed. In 2010, lawmakers including independent Sen. Joe Lieberman tried to empower the State Department to strip citizenship from Americans who provide material support or resources to groups that Washington labels as terrorists, or who have joined or supported attacks on the United States and its allies.

Hillary Clinton, then secretary of state, did not shut the door to the proposal, which alarmed some civil liberties groups and ultimately went nowhere. She promised to “take a hard look” at the measure.

“Clearly, United States citizenship is a privilege,” she said at the time. “It is not a right.”

Article Appeared @http://news.yahoo.com/renouncing-u-s–citizenship-is-about-to-get-a-lot-more-expensive-150405883.html

 

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