We all know that immigration law is complicated. We all know that human beings make mistakes. What we don’t expect is that our government can’t figure out who its own citizens are. But time and time again, the government disappoints. The latest culprit is the Department of Justice (DOJ), which employs the most powerful attorneys in the country.
The DOJ has the authority to issue deportation orders. In a recent decision, the DOJ admitted that it has been misinterpreting certain citizenship statutes since 2008. As a consequence, DOJ officers have been incorrectly ordering U.S. citizens deported.
The DOJ’s error involved what is known as “derivative citizenship.” If a parent naturalizes while a child is under 18, the child automatically becomes a citizen, if some other conditions are met. For example, if a father naturalizes, his out-of-wedlock children must be “legitimated” to derive citizenship.
To read more: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/laura-murraytjan/whoops-the-department-of_b_6763514.html