~T.E. Sumner
“All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”
Constitution 14th amendment
Born in the USA
The 14th Amendment applies to citizenship. When slaves who had been brought to the US prior to the Civil War were freed, some states moved to disenfranchise them by claiming they were not citizens of the very state they lived in. The 14th trumped that false claim.
Note that citizens of a state are by that fact citizens of the United States. State citizenship implies and conveys US citizenship.
Visitor and Immigrant US visas do not specify a place to live and work while provisional migrants. No state coordination exists currently.
Uniform State Immigration Laws
Each state can have its own methodology to naturalize aliens so long as the state law conforms to Congress’ law.
Governors or their agents, like state judges, can perform naturalization ceremonies and issue Certificates of Citizenship in their state. The conveyance of state citizenship also conveys US citizenship, not just state citizenship.
Importantly, all state-issued records and identification cards and certificates should indicate citizenship.
The “CITIZEN” label is added only for Texas citizens. “DRIVER LICENSE” or “COMMERCIAL” is added for drivers, and if appropriate “VETERAN” can be added. “CARRY” indicates situational weapons trained and approved.
Citizens arriving from other states to reside in Texas would have to prove up their actual citizenship before a state identification card could bear the notation “Citizen.” Non-citizens issued ID cards by other states would not automatically become citizens in Texas.
Applicants for an identification card also need to prove up their actual name, as they were born with or as decreed by a court – no nicknames, no abbreviations, no omissions – full legal name. Gender and sex are currently being hashed over by some people who believe their appearance and their feelings override biology. To minimize questions, the notations XX and XY (or as appropriate) according to a biological test, should be shown if Sex or Gender is to be shown.
In this practice the reverse may be blank, but it can be populated with other information as is illustrated. Importantly, whatever data is shown anywhere on the card should also be stored on the chip, if embedded.
The storage chip could also hold important additional information, in addition to all the data on the card, such as change history, a personal public key, if issued, donor information, health basics for emergencies, etc. The card user would have to decide what protections to place on non-public data.
Other form factors are possible, such as portrait versus landscape orientation. Separate labeled cards could also be issued for valid reasons, rather than a single combined card.
Under-21 Orientation
Non-Citizen Identifications
Notice that “Citizen” is absent from the top.
Also note that the Real ID star indicates identity has been verified by the issuing agency and that the bearer is lawfully present in the US. This is not an indicator of citizenship. There is currently no differentiation between a status of admitted under parole and may be allowed to stay temporarily and to work, and previously admitted under parole but “lawful” status revoked.
Citizenship Transfers from other States
Since principal residency is an essential requirement of citizenship in a state, a person can have only a single state citizenship. A person cannot be principally residing in two places.
Converting other state citizenships to Texas Citizenship needs better rules, revolving around principal residency established by what time, plus relinquishment of other citizenships. A 30 to 180 day period would be minimal to change.
Converting other state citizenships to Texas Citizenship needs better rules, revolving around principal residency established by what time, plus relinquishment of other citizenships. A 30 to 180 day period would be minimal to change.
It is important to “age” transfers to prevent, for example, voters from operating in multiple states, public assistance from being duplicated, and to allow at least some assimilation of the newly minted Texans into local issues, traditions and customs, plus voter integrity. Registration to vote requires residency as of 30 days prior to the Election Day, but an “aging” period to gain “residency” is important, as well as surrender of residency in other locales.
Getting control of the invasion on our border is a multi-part problem that begins with identifying actual Texas citizens as opposed to having other states misrepresenting non-citizens as citizens through their identification cards.
