Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) yesterday called for the denaturalization of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) after a controversial speech was uncovered in which she pledged to put Somalia first in Congress and her work. While I have been a long critic of Omar, her views expressed in this speech are not only protected speech, but they are not a basis for denaturalization.
In the video, Rep. Omar is shown declaring that “We as Somalians we love each other. There are areas of friction that led us to kill each other, but in reality, we are an organized society — brother and sisters, people of the same blood.”
She then goes further into where their loyalties lie: “People who know they are Somalians first, Muslims second, who protect one another, come to each other’s aid and to the aid of other Muslims too.” She assures the audience that the U.S. government will “only do what Somalians in the U.S. tell them to do…They will do what we want and nothing else. They must follow our orders and that is how we will safeguard the interests of Somalia,” she said.
She further declares that “For as long as I am in the U.S. Congress, Somalia will never be in danger,” she said, telling Somalians to “sleep in comfort, knowing I am here to protect the interests of Somalia from inside the U.S. system.”
The speech has led to calls for expulsion from Congress and denaturalization. Neither would be appropriate, in my view.
The speech is clearly protected under the First Amendment. Omar is not advocating imminent violent or criminal conduct. She is expressing her personal priorities and loyalties. The omission of an expression of loyalty to the United States has left many irate and insulted. However, it is still protected speech. Indeed, burning an American flag and condemning America are protected forms of free expression.
Omar was born in Mogadishu, Somalia in 1982 and her family fled the country during the Somali Civil War. After living in refuge camps, the family was given asylum in the United States. The family would eventually move to Minnesota where Omar achieved the extraordinary distinction of becoming the first Somali-American legislator elected to Congress in 2017.
She has remained a controversial figure due to her statements on Israel and other subjects.
The growing calls for denaturalization are disconnected from governing constitutional and statutory standards.
The authority to denaturalize is implied in the language of Article I, Section 8, Clause 4:
“[The Congress shall have Power . . . ] To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States…”
Denaturalization is largely based on the granting of citizenship based on fraudulent or false representations. In Johannessen v. United States, 225 U.S. 227, 241 (1912), the Court held that “[a]n alien has no moral nor constitutional right to retain the privileges of citizenship if, by false evidence or the like, an imposition has been practiced upon the court, without which the certificate of citizenship could not and would not have been issued.” A failure “to comply with any of these conditions renders the certification of citizenship ‘illegally procured,’ and naturalization that is unlawfully procured can be set aside.”
Others can condemn Rep. Omar’s comment, but they cannot strip away her citizenship due to her exercise of free speech.
The greatest disconnect in these calls is that Omar would be stripped of her citizenship for exercising the very right that defines us as citizens.
We are loyal Americans because we are bound by a type of covenant of faith in our Constitution, the commitment to each other that we will fight for the rights of our neighbors regardless of whether we agree with their values or views.
This country is not endangered by a lack of patriotism or even a lack of loyalty in others. It is threatened by allowing our anger to blind us to the denial of the very thing that defines us.
I don’t see what the big deal is given most of Congress places Israel before America. We take care of their bills before our own debt. Their citizens live a lavish lifestyle compared to our homeless veterans. People should get a hold of themselves before tearing Omar apart- she’s only following the footsteps of Netanyahu’s stooges in congress, just for Somalia instead.
It’s not a freedom of speech issue. It’s whether she obtained citizenship fraudulently. Citizenship is granted upon a premise of loyalty secured and evidenced by an oath. Freedom of speech has nothing to do with this.
How about the House adopting a persona non grata resolution declaring that no member should speak to Omar until she recites the Pledge of Allegiance?
I like your posts very much. They are insightful and well-considered. Please, however, hire a competent proof reader. There are way too many errors.
I would take issue with your characterization that she is only exercising her 1st Amendment Rights. She took two oaths: one and oath of Citizenship when she was naturalized and one when she took office. First, naturalization:
“I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God.”
As you point out in Johannessen v. United States, the Court held that citizenship could be removed “…if, by false evidence or the like, an imposition has been practiced upon the court, without which the certificate of citizenship could not and would not have been issued.” A failure to abide by her oath, in fact giving that oath with intent to evade and reject it, would constitute such an imposition on the court.
When she entered office as a Representative she similarly swore: “I, AB, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.”
Now, obviously, if her purpose is to subvert the will of the Country to the will of a foreign power, state, or potentate – AS SHE STATED – that would violate her oath. In addition, knowingly swearing that oath with mental reservations and purpose of evasion would disqualify her.
You may think oaths are old fashioned, but they were put there for a reason…and this is it.
How about denaturalizing her for immigration fraud (marrying her brother)? Or is that protected in the constitution Mr. Turley?
Immigration fraud is just like any other crime: You can’t “denaturalize” someone for it.
In fact the very term “denaturalization” is misleading, because there’s really no such thing. The Supreme Court has said that once someone is validly naturalized that’s it, there are no backsies. What can happen is that someone who has been pretending to be a citizen can be discovered not to be one. That is no different than discovering that someone who has been practicing law or medicine was never licensed in any state. You don’t “disbar” such a person, or “revoke their license”; they were never barred and never had a license in the first place.
And that can happen both to people claiming citizenship by birth or by naturalization. There was a recent case where a woman claimed citizenship by birth, but the problem was that her father had been a foreign diplomat. His country fired him before she was born, but the State Department didn’t get around to revoking his diplomatic immunity until after. The courts ruled that at the time of her birth he was still a diplomat, so she was not a citizen and could be deported. Her claim wasn’t even fraudulent, it was an honest mistake, but that didn’t matter; she’s still not a citizen, and now she’s no longer darkening our shores.
If you can find some flaw in Omar’s naturalization, e.g. some significant fraud on her part that would have resulted in her being turned down if the truth had been known, or the person who performed the naturalization was not authorized to do so, etc., then she’s never been a citizen and by all means deport her; but without that, the fact (if it is one) that she committed immigration fraud can’t affect her citizenship.
Also, by the way, there is no actual evidence that her motive for pretending to marry her brother was immigration fraud. That’s just a reasonable guess.
Dude!
Really?
Yes you can lose your citizenship and be sent back for committing fraud.
War criminals lying about their identities for example.
It depends on the situation and the stomach of the courts to decide what they will do.
So can they? Yes.
Will they? Probably not.
Can she be booted from the House?
Yes.
But as you or someone else pointed out… she could run again and get re-elected.
That said… there are other things that could happen to her in Congress.
No, you are wrong. You cannot lose your citizenship for committing any crime, including fraud, and including immigration fraud.
If you obtained your naturalization by fraud, then it was invalid and you were never a citizen, so there’s nothing to revoke. But that is irrelevant here, because nobody claims that there was anything wrong with Omar’s naturalization. There is no question that she was properly naturalized, and is now a citizen. Therefore no matter what crimes she has committed since then, including immigration fraud (if that’s what it really was), she cannot lose her citizenship.
This is very simple, and you must be extraordinarily stupid not to understand it.
Again: Omar was properly naturalized. Nobody is even suggesting otherwise. It is likely that she subsequently committed various crimes, including immigration fraud. And we are discussing whether this can affect her citizenship. The law couldn’t be clearer on this: It cannot.
Jonathan: DJT continues to insist the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) is “difficult”–but he aced it. He even boasted that only 2% of his MAGA supporters could past the test. Now I understand the problem.
On the campaign trail in Nevada DJT continued to talk about MoCA. He said: “They give you 6 names in a row. a chair, a hat, a badge, a necklace and a boat”. Last time I counted those are just 5 names. DJT’s slight forgetfulness might explain why he couldn’t identify E. Jean Carroll in a photo during his deposition. He thought he was looking at his former wife who is buried at Bedminster . Never mind that DJT continues to confuse Nikki Haley and Nancy Pelosi. Anyone could make those kinds of mistakes. Right?
Now we all know DJT likes to play golf. It’s an obsession. He was recently at Bedminster and was playing the back nine. On the way down the fairway DJT’s golf cart was struck by another cart. DJT got out of his cart and confronted the other driver: “Do you know who I am???”. Get it?
Apparently you suffer the same infliction. Trump, when asked to recognize an OLD photo of E. Jean Carroll, answered that it might be an ex-wife, Marla Maples. You and Gigi must spend all your spare time scanning the media for information.
It’s not like Dennis and Gigi have lives…
Dennis confuses Ivana (his long-term wife, buried at Bedminster and mother of Don Jr, Eric, and Ivanka) with
short term Marla Maples, ha ha!
Ivana is dead – Marla is not. He identified her as Marla. Marla was his wife at the time the photo was taken.
How well did you score on the MOCA – not very well it seems.
Did Trump say “No one messes with a Biden ?”
Dennis – a suggestion to improve your credibility – when you “quote”
Trump – or franly anyone else – provide the ful quote in context and an actual source.
Everytime I have looked up your alleged qotes they have turned out to be false or totally out of context.
I do not even bother to check anymore – I just assume you are misquoting.
Which BTW is what the majority of americans are doing – and Why Trump is over 50% in half the poles.
Because those of you on the left have lied about Trump pretty close to 100% of the time.
People are tuning you and the rest of the left out.
no one is reporting your golf course quote.
I said I was not going to do reaserch to fact check you – because we are at a point where the odds of you being correct about anything are near zero. But I tripped over this.
Apparently your Aligators and moats nonsense came from a mem Trump posted on Truth in September.
And left wing nuts – including you and dRep. Garcia took the bait and made fools of yourself.
Enjoy
https://youtu.be/UZ9Mxz6Ch14?list=PLOhPOwZEWwMEAzX2QR2M4FS_3xMshkA4h
I am reminded of interviews of the Babylon Bee who have said that satire is getting increasing difficult because stories they posted as a absurd jokes turned into actual things that the left really did.
Rep. Garcia – you know the guy who confused several Memes with reality.
also said that Trump wants CBP to shoot migrants in the legs.
The problem with that is, ……
It is Pres. Biden that talked about police shooting people in the legs.
Now the Democrats are racially profiling muslims to keep them out of campaign events.
https://youtu.be/57RRDTMnY24?list=PLOhPOwZEWwMEAzX2QR2M4FS_3xMshkA4h
‘We can have no ’50-50’ allegiance in this country. Either a man is an American and nothing else, or he is not an American at all.
Theodore Roosevelt
I’ll go with Teddy on this…
That is not, and has never been the law. Dual citizenship has existed since the beginning of the USA. There’s nothing the USA can do about it. In fact it was the official pretext for the War of 1812. (There were other reasons, but officially that was the reason we declared war.)
OT:
🤴🏼 DeSantis: 1
🐭 Mouse: 0
Congrats to Governor DeSantis. Hopefully Disney will focus on what they used to do best: wholesome entertainment for families and especially kids.
Federal judge dismisses Disney’s lawsuit against DeSantis
U.S. District Judge Allen Winsor granted DeSantis’ motion to dismiss on jurisdictional grounds. He cited case law that “courts shouldn’t look to a law’s legislative history to find an illegitimate motivation for an otherwise constitutional statute.”
“Because that is what Disney seeks here, its claim fails as a matter of law,” the judge ruled. The judge said that Disney even cited a prior First Amendment case where the court ruled a law did not single out the plaintiff, a move Winsor said “only undermines Disney’s position.”
https://flvoicenews.com/federal-judge-dismisses-disneys-lawsuit-against-desantis/
Ilhan came to this country on a fake visa, claiming to be a family member of the Omar Somali family in Virginia. Actually, she is related to the former Somali dictator and is using a false name. She also claimed to be married to a man who turned out to be her brother, but that is another story. Omar entered this country illegally and she can be deported.
How she entered the country is irrelevant. She did not commit any fraud or tell any lies at the time (since she was a minor and was therefore not asked any questions and did not fill in any forms). And there is no reason to suppose sh obtained her naturalization through fraud. Therefore she is a citizen and can’t be deported.
I find it interesting that Turley does not reference FARA (Foreign Agents Registration Act) and Omar’s exposure thereunder. FARA has been a weapon of choice to go after Republicans.
I think there’d have to be something more substantive demonstrating she’s a “foreign agent” than her smarmy remarks.
There is no evidence that she’s actually working for the Somali government. Certainly not that it’s paying her. So FARA doesn’t apply.
However, it does seem her intention is to not become a full citizen, but rather using our system for reasons which are fraudulent, thus citizenship obtained was done for fraudulent purposes and can be de-naturalized. It’s obvious from the start her machinations were to fulfil a purpose not inline with being a citizen of the USA.
That is outright bonkers. It’s obvious that her intention when she was naturalized was exactly the same as everyone else who is naturalized. What the hell does “using our system for reasons which are fraudulent” even mean? It has no meaning. There was nothing fraudulent about her reasons; she wanted to be a citizen and have all the benefits of citizenship, including voting, serving on juries, being guaranteed that if she left the country she would be readmitted, etc. All the normal things. What’s fraudulent about that? Nobody expects a new citizen to throw away their identity. This is a multicultural society, and you can be a Somali-American or a Polish-American or an English-American or whatever. And nobody expects them to stop caring about their original homeland, or about their “landsmen”, those who came here from the same place.
Ilhan Omar must not have been admitted to become a citizen of the United States, according to the Founding Fathers.
If you accept the Constitution and Bill of Rights of the American Founders and Framers, you also accept the Naturalization Acts of the American Founders and Framers, which have never been legally or legitimately abrogated. Lincoln’s whimsical and arbitrary voidance and nullification of the immigration law of the Founders was accomplished illicitly through violence at gunpoint, as were his unconstitutional denial of not-prohibited and fully constitutional secession and his entire unconstitutional “Reign of Terror.”
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Naturalization Acts of 1790, 1795, 1798, 1802 (four clear iterations)
United States Congress, “An act to establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization,” March 26, 1790
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That any Alien being a free white person, who shall have resided within the limits and under the jurisdiction of the United States for the term of two years, may be admitted to become a citizen thereof…
KNOW YOUR ENEMY OR SUCCUMB
“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”
– Sun Tzu, The Art of War, 475 – 221 B.C.
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Ilhan Omar is a direct and mortal enemy of the American thesis of freedom and self-reliance, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, actual patriotic Americans, and America.