As a US citizen who was born in the UK, how risky is it to leave and reenter the US right now?
1y 2mon ago by lemmy.world/u/Lennnny in nostupidquestions
Until now this would have been a stupid question - this is my home. But we're in a strange timeline. My background is I was born in the UK, met first husband, married, got green card, that went tits up, divorced, met husband 2, found forever love, married, naturalized in 2021. Have my passport and everything.
It's my dad's birthday, and he lives in the UK. I want to go back and celebrate, but I'm nervous about reentry into the US. I naturalized during the Biden presidency, and I am a Democrat, I feel nervous that I have a target on my back. I have a home and pets here. Am I ridiculous for worrying or should I be cautious about leaving right now?
Are you white?
Trump immigration raids snag U.S. citizens, including Native Americans, raising racial profiling fears
Those who are getting caught in Immigrations and Customs Enforcement raids are being targeted because of their race or skin color, according to witnesses.
In all fairness they seem to be detaining plenty of white women too
Yeah there’s been multiple reports of white Canadian women being detained for weeks before being let go
There have also been multiple articles about administration looking for ways to denaturalize citizens. They may be looking for a victim to try it out on.
And Brits (relevant to OP). But they had the wrong visa.
And white men. They detained a German guy and dragged him all over the country.
If it’s the same case I saw, he was gay. So, not exactly not a minority.
That’s just what gets the most media because pretty white women getting harassed by ICE will get a lot more clicks than all the brown skinned people getting harassed by ICE
immigration raids snag U.S. citizens, including Native Americans
Amazing. Where are they going to deport them to, the actual state their tribe were from before they were forced out of there and onto a barren reservation?
I know that they're probably deported to El Salvador because E.S. made bitcoin their national currency.
I know that they’re probably deported to El Salvador because E.S. made bitcoin their national currency.
It looks like it no longer is because it was a failure. I bet they still have a way to launder bribes through their system though
In December, 2024, El Salvador, in an agreement for a $1.4 billion loan from the IMF, agreed to reduce bitcoin purchases, removed the mandatory acceptance of Bitcoin requirement on merchants, will no longer accept tax payments with the asset, and will wind-down its involvement in the Chivo wallet.[77][78]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin_in_El_Salvador#Reaction
Consult the chart
Add queer to the list and also if you're not a Nazi...
Add "liberal" or even "critical of the president" to that.
The fascist prez: FREEDOM OF SPEECH!
What he actually means:
FREEDOM TO KILL PEOPLE I DON'T LIKE!
Hey, how did you get access to the official ICE guidelines video!?
You do realise they've also been disappearing white people, right?
Don’t risk it. Also, try to make some contingency plans in the event they do kick you out.
Tbh I’m born and raised here, and a straight white cisgender male, and I’m laying groundwork to quickly emigrate as a contingency plan.
Edit: apparently they’re now trying to figure out how to “de-naturalize” naturalized citizens, so that’s fun.
An actual risk assessment would look at % not single incidents
You’re ignoring the fact that these “single incidents” are essentially the administration testing what they can get away with. And there’s a lot more than just this one, if you bother to look.
...no, I'm not. They're very serious, and should be taken as such. But that doesn't make them an accurate risk assessment in it of an individual incident, you need to look at numbers, for a real risk assessment
And it wouldn’t tell a citizen they are at the same risk as someone on a work visa.
We're turning into trump supporters with our vilification and exaggeration of real life
The post was a person with a work visa not a citizen. This is not to say that the US is the safest place to be. My US citizen cousin very recently came to live in the US and they were born and living in a different country for most of their life and they haven't had any hiccups.
I would probably not come in during Trump's rule when there are other countries but you do you.
The administration is currently figuring out how to “deport” natural-born citizens to an El Salvadoran Supermax prison that’s notorious for having horrendous conditions. All bets are off, regardless of citizenship. But it’s PARTICULARLY risky if you check any of the following boxes while also not being a natural-born citizen:
- not white
- not male
- not cisgender
- not straight
- not evangelical Christian
- not racist
- not a vocal supporter of the regime
There are real and concrete reasons that so many countries have started issuing travel warnings for the US to their own citizens in the last few months.
update: Blue sky users are apparently receiving threatening letters using the phrase their "parole is terminated" despite being us citizens; I can't confirm anything, but I'm looking into it now.
so far naturalized citizens are not being harassed or detained.
everyone i've heard about being turned away or deported so far has a green card, visa or is in the US illegally.
it's certainly a terrible situation and a slippery slope, but as far as I'm aware naturalized citizens are not facing that treatment yet.
https://bsky.app/profile/nicolemicheroni.bsky.social/post/3lml5ctrmmc2u
Some personal news: the Department of Homeland Security has given me, an immigration lawyer born in Newton, Massachusetts, seven days to leave the U.S. Does anyone know if you can get Italian citizenship through great-grandparents?
Italy and Ireland were like the last two countries that you could claim citizenship through great-grandparents, but I think Italy just ended it this year.
thanks for posting this, it's the first I've heard of maybe a US citizen being deported.
I'm looking into related posts to find corroboration and explanation for the term "parole" used here.
it's the first I've heard of maybe a US citizen being deported.
It's been happening for years. From the Washington Post:
The U.S. government does not release data on how often ICE wrongfully detains or deports U.S. citizens. But investigations by media outlets, research institutes and oversight agencies have revealed that ICE has arrested, detained, deported and issued detainers — requests to local jails to hold a person in custody — for thousands of citizens since the agency was created in 2003. One 2011 study estimated that roughly 1 to 1.5 percent of deportees are U.S. citizens.
Thanks, I meant intentional deportations of US citizens.
Nothing says they weren’t intentional.
nothing says they were.
From what I read itsly "ended" it, but it's not confirmed permanent yet, there will be a vote 60 days after march 28 to make it permanent. Their new restrictions are pretty extreme though. I would expect the vote to not pass, but some other version of this will get passed at some point.
It's literally a fascist government, what do you expect. They were fairly moderate until Trump's election basically gave them permission to go nuts.
oh shoot I just thought they got rid of the "great" part and you can still become a citizen if you have italian grandparents, what are the new restrictions?
https://www.boccadutri.com/italian-citizenship-by-descent-decree-law-36-2025/
Some resources. There's a whole new list of requirements.
got it.
as far as I'm aware, it's just the "great" part that changed. it's not so much that Italian immigration laws have become overly restrictive as they were so broad before as to proving Italian heritage.
The current Italian citizenship restrictions are still a great deal easier than most other countries.
basically, as long as you have a parent or grandparent who is an Italian citizen or became one, you can become an Italian citizen also by filling out a form.
You should read the first link
that's the article I was originally referencing and then referenced again.
did you understand that article differently than how i've summarized it?
Under the new regulations, applicants must have at least one Italian parent or grandparent to apply under jus sanguinis. They must also demonstrate Italian language proficiency, which was previously only needed for naturalization through residency or marriage. The proficiency test is a five-part state exam held several times a year, or a higher level equivalency test for those not living in Italy.
At the moment applicants do not have to be currently living in Italy, but do need to have previously lived in the country for three years to be eligible.
Italian language proficiency, prior Italian residency for 3 years, those are both new as well.
I don't think language proficiency is a new requirement, but good to know, thanks.
The residency I'm pretty sure is new, it used to be 10 years for citizenship through residency.
I'm curious to see if this new law will get ratified.
thanks!
Those are both new... I've been tracking this and collecting my own documents for some time. But if you can't be bothered to read or search for yourself I'm going to stop engaging with you. Thanks for playing.
You're incorrect, residency and language fluency are not new residency requirements for Italian citizenship, although the proposals I brought up(that have not been signed into law yet) are being expanded specifically for ancestry petitions.
You can try again.
Varyk is correct, the cnn article has errors. Currently there is no language requirement in DL 36/2025, and the only residency requirement is to live there for 2 years before the birth or adoption of a child to pass citizenship on, if your parents weren't born there. DDL 1450 is a proposed amendment that, in part, would allow minor children to fulfill the 2 year residency themselves, and (I believe) if they are no longer a minor, 3 years
Here is an english translation of DL 36/2025. The actual text of the decree is near the bottom
The thread started out talking about citizenship through great grandparents, which to me sounded a whole lot like claiming citizenship through jure sanguinis. This is what the two links I posted were about. Then halfway through he started talking about residency, which, sure, probably has different requirements. But he never clarified anything or sought to source any claims, so... hard to talk to people that just hand wave and declare they're right.
I haven't looked deeply enough into it to see where cnn sourced their information as I'm not that far into my process yet to need to be concerned about it yet...
As for your link, yeah I don't see any language requirement either. Is this regarding claiming citizenship through jure sanguinis or through residency?
Gotcha, no problem, just a miscommunication :) Yes, DL 36/2025 is all about citizenship by descent, jure sanguinis. That's the new decree that has changed things recently, preventing many people from claiming citizenship. It's still possible that residency could be added as a requirement on top of parental ties, and in fact it has been for minor children beyond grandchildren.
I'll be watching how it all plays out along with you. Good luck on your journey!
Good to know, thanks for the resource and the clarification 👍
immigration lawyer born in Newton, Massachusetts,
I'm guessing they intended to send this notice to one of this lawyer's clients, rather than the lawyer themself?
On the one hand, it has to be a mistake, right?
On the other, malicious harassment of an immigration lawyer with a "foreign" sounding name is exactly the sort of thing you'd expect right now.
Absolute best case scenario for this administration is that they are prone to making stupid, dangerous, embarrassing mistakes that will end up getting someone hurt or worse. And that's giving them way more benefit of the doubt than they've earned.
Or brown.
not with regard to this specific situation, since white people have been deported or turned away due to their visa status, but under this administration anyone not white should feel way more targeted than they might be under other administrations.
Yeah as much as I like to shit on Trump, citizens are not really at much risk. Maaaaybe if you have a criminal record they could try some shit, but it would be a shift for the administration
Not really at much risk... YET.
Give it another 6 months or so.
Why would you want to come back? Place is a 2nd world shit hole.
As a citizen you should be safe. Are you white? That makes it a little safer. Probably wouldn't hurt if you're attractive and female...
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fuck I hate this timeline
I wanna be mad at these comments but they're so true. I'm white and female, so maybe I'll be fine. But it's so fucking sad that this is the case. I'm not just worried for me, but for all the people who made this place home. A lot of minorities in that group.
pretty risky as even white canadians are detained.
That Canadian actress was white and attractive. The German held for several days without sleep was also white and attractive (also a man in a relationship with a man, but I don’t know how likely it is that CBP could have known that).
It’s probably protective, but it’s not sufficient
Why would you come back?
You are now an American citizen, so you should have the rights the rest of us have. You should be fine. They haven't gotten around to threatening to denaturalize people yet. When they do, they will concentrate first on people from countries they don't like, that used old policies they have since rescinded. And they will have to use more due process than they are using on these non-citizens.
The one thing I would be cautious of, though, is the state of your cell phone. They are very thin-skinned when it comes to criticism lately, and may decide to look through your phone's social media to decide if you are insufficiently loyal. They have broad powers to do that when you re-enter the country. As a US citizen they cannot deny you entry, but they can still make your life difficult on entry. And this group doesn't exactly pay attention to laws, do they?
At minimum, you might want to shut down your cell phone before getting off the plane. Explain it by saying it is a long flight, and you wanted to save your battery for arrival. If they confiscate a phone and try to dump all its data, they are more limited if the phone has just rebooted. They would basically need the PIN to do anything. If you want to go further, you can also log out of all of your social media accounts and remove their apps before the flight, so they even if they force you to divulge the PIN they won't find your social media history.
That may all be too paranoid, but we live in stupid times.
I think it really depends on how white you are. I'm 192cm tall, born in California, white as fuck with blue eyes, so I think that I'm pretty safe. However, I've cautioned my sister who was born on Java that she really has to take precautions. She's lived here and been naturalized since she was 1 years old, but even so, she's got brown skin, so she's a target for this RACIST AS FUCK government.
Oh don't worry. They'll come for you soon.
They've already gotten away with kicking people out to a south american torture prison.
And they are actively and openly working on how to strip citizenship from people, so they can disappear anyone to the south american torture prison.
So you are not safe. You just have lots of brown and hispanic people infront of you to take the initial bullets.
Which is why we all need to be stopping this shit now, because we all know how the poem ends.
Hey I don't disagree with your points but just wanted to mention that El Salvador is in North America (in a sub-region known as Central America)
edit: unless there are additional South American facilities they've been building that I'm unaware of
No, I just brain farted and said south instead of central.
Proper call out. Gonna leave my post unedited, so your callout remains relevant.
They're arresting white people too.
But less often.
That's a valid point.
I have a close friend who was born in Venzuela, and became a citizen in January. She feels much safer now, and thinks she's in the clear. I'm still worried about her, but i don't want to scare her with my own anxiety.
These MAGA Nazis want to get rid of Birthright Citizenship, which every nation in the world recognizes. If they won't even respect that, they aren't going to respect anything else - including Green Cards or Naturalization.
Bottom line - if you were born in another country, you are an enemy, and they want you out.
which every nation in the world recognizes
Well, this is flat out not true at all 😅
There are ~30-35 that recognize some degree of birthright citizenship under certain circumstances (for example, having a parent that has citizenship), but few countries have unconditional birthright citizenship, particularly outside of the Americas.
Ok, maybe not all, but the countries we tend to equate ourselves with recognize it.
How many countries isn't the point, anyway. It's in the Constitution, in any case.
Also depends how much presence you have on social media, and how public you are avout your political opinions there.
They'll merrily send you to El Salvador for looking at someone funny, though. Some disgraced sheriff didn't like a gay makeup artist and claimed he was a Venezuelan gang member. He was picked up and has disappeared in the system in El Salvador somewhere.
Welcome back to the Stasi.
That depends what colour your skin is or if you wear any non christian headgear, symbols, etc.
The scary thing is we have no clue. But they do seem to be racist in their targeting, so if you look white, I'd imagine you'd have a much lower risk.
It honestly seems very unpredictable. Anecdotally the worst behaviour seems to have been at the most republican states but not exclusively.
For example the Australian who had a work visa and lived in the US for years flew in to Texas where it was arbitrarily nullified. There are plenty of stories of people crossing southern and northern borders and being detained by ICE. Thats included British, German, Australian and French cirizens that ive seen in the UK press coverage anyway.
As a US citizen you shouldnt have an issue but I'd probably travel through a major hub like JFK in New York to be safer. I wouldn't re-enter through Republican states like Florida, Texas, nor probably Washington DCs airports. Obviously travel on your US passport.
You should he OK as a US citizen but it does look like there is a breakdown in the rule of law in the US. People imagine that means riots and the police not able to keep control, but in this case its the government and government agencies doing whatever they want and the legal system unable to stop them.
I'm a UK citizen and am not intending to travel to the US - I often cone for a major conference but having seen what happened to the French scientist who had his phone searched and then was denied entry for criticising Trump I won't be risking it. I'm sure a lot of other UK and Europeans feel the same way.
Sadly the only 100% safe option for you is to not leave the country. Its madness as youre a US citizen but at this point things are still going through the courts and its not clear where this will stop.
FWIW, I have multiple things I should go to in the USA coming up, and neither I nor my family are willing to risk it. My two (young adult) children and I have dual USA - EU country citizenship. My wife had a green card when she lived with me in NYC for over a decade, but turned it in when we moved back long ago. These facts (let alone what my posting history is like) are just too much for us. We won't risk it.
It's kind of like a plane crash: very unlikely to happen but you are equally unlikely to walk away unhurt.
You’re not ridiculous for worrying, but I think you’ll be okay. Since we’ve got a bigot running the show, it’ll help even more if you’re white (I hate saying that, but that’s the situation).
The future is another thing to consider. I assume that the situation for immigrants will only get worse, and turn into a complete shitshow when Mango Mussolini goes for his third term. This might be the least precarious time to leave the U.S. for several years. Make your trip count.
At the moment they're only going after overt political dissidents and brown immigrants. As long as you haven't penned an oped criticizing Trump you should be fine. Though, I would advise buying a burner phone for the trip. Set up a new account and put a bunch of games on it so it doesn't look suspicious.
only going after overt political dissidents and brown immigrants
They seem to have detained some white tourists lately as well.
I’d imagine it was like 0% risky.
There’s A big difference between legal immigrants and actual us citizens.
But id probably rather live in the UK if that’s an option
You've still got a British passport? Consider staying out of trouble, I.e. the US.
You might be kept waiting for days at customs while officers insult you and try to get you to sign self deportation papers. Prepare so that you have what you need if you can never come back. Not joking, that's probably best case scenario, worst is gulag.
Sorry, best case scenario is that you're held for days? Where are they keeping these planes full of passengers and crew that are coming into international airports everywhere on a daily basis?
The US is embarrassing. So are "not joking" comments like this.
It very much applies if you're not white and/or queer.
Then qualify it. But even then, while I'd definitely think twice about unnecessary border crossings, there are surely plenty of queer or people of color going through the border without getting that not-joking best-case-scenario held for days treatment.
I came back from China without issue.
My coworker who grew up in the soviet union and just moved here from a country trump hates had no problem recently
Ppl are saying it's fine if you aren't brown but i still wouldn't ive read about Canadian Americans (who are white) who couldn't reenter.
While risk is much higher if you aren't white it's just not a good idea to leave for anyone if you want to return
should be fine
I'd probably consult a lawyer.
They can't (legally) deny you entry into the US, but they might make your life hell when re-entering. Bring a burner phone with you in case they take your phone. Don't keep anything even remotely political saved on there.
yes
I only have the context of a somewhat informed person in a college financial aid office. It's really the illegal or refugee/asylee population that has to worry right now unless you're here as a permanent resident and have protested against the ethnic cleansing of Gaza (or as the republicans are calling it, "antisemitism") on a billion dollar campus.
They don't have a strategy yet for de-naturalizing naturalized citizens (they are discussing this), but if you're white and not Muslim, you're probably not drawing their attention.
not risky, just more complex. those people in the news are 1 in a million cases, and you very probably wont be the next
U will be completely fine. U have the same risks that have always existed such as disable biometric auth for u phone etc.
It’s still a stupid fucking question, You’re an American citizen point blank period.
Trump is already looking at how he can deport US citizens to El Salvador. You're ignorant of history. Hitler killed citizens, including Catholics and anyone he didn't consider to be a "pure Arian".
First off I’m a history major, and a huge history buff. This is why I left reddit because of people with your crazy mindset comparing Trump to Hitler. You guys are nuts
So when they give you the books in your major classes, do you actually read them?
I will save this message for the next four years and then I will message you and I will ask you how many Americans did Donald Trump kill Nazi style like it was a holocaust? And you will sit there with your mouth shut like a fucking idiot because you won’t be able to answer the question. Matter of fact How many Americans did he kill in a holocaust type of way his last presidency?
If you are right I will buy you a drink. If I am right, I will see you in hell
lol fair enough, in four years I will message you with my Venmo account that way you can send me 17 bucks to go get a drink