My Dual Citizenship Is None of Bernie Moreno’s Business

Alaric DeArment, New Republic  -  On November 26, after I’d spent hundreds of dollars obtaining certified documents and a considerable amount of time agonizing over the status of my application, FedEx delivered the piece of paper I had spent three years waiting for: confirmation of my acquisition of German citizenship by descent. But less than a week later, I learned that some Midwestern car salesman turned senator wants to take that away from me and millions of other Americans.

On December 1, Republican Senator Bernie Moreno of Ohio announced new legislation, the Exclusive Citizenship Act of 2025, which would ban dual citizenship, a move that followed months of agitation against dual citizenship by far-right podcasters. Under the bill, Americans who acquire the nationality of other countries would “be deemed to have relinquished United States citizenship,” while those who already had it would have a year to renounce it or else lose U.S. citizenship. “Existing law allows certain United States Citizens to maintain foreign citizenship, which may create conflicts of interest and divided loyalties,” the bill states, and “it is in the national interest of the United States to ensure that United States citizenship is held exclusively.”

Here in a place called “reality,” my dual citizenship in no way threatens America’s national interests and is actually none of Moreno’s business. Ditto for the multiple citizenships of children born to American parents on foreign soil, descendants of immigrants from various countries, and Black Americans connecting with their heritage through citizenship-by-descent programs from certain African nations. That I can belt out a rendition of “Das Lied der Deutschen” that’s just as sappy as “The Star-Spangled Banner” does not aid or comfort America’s enemies. The fact that I am one among many everyday Americans with multiple citizenships has as much to do with Moreno as what we eat for breakfast or the colors of our curtains.