So, I am a bit confused on this issue, and have been trying to find some kind of definitive information on what actions a US citizen can do that would cause him/her to lose her citizenship.  I know that there have been many proposals passed around; I am looking for info on what is on the books now....

Case in point:  Hamdi is a US citizen that was caught in Afghanistan fighting specifically for the Taliban.  He is now at Guantanamo, please excuse if I spelled it wrong, and there is a lot of talk about his being denied access to a lawyer...

My understanding is that if, in a time of war, a US citizen decides to take up arms and fight for the other side, he has essentially denounced his citizenship is is no longer considered a citizen.  Is this on the books now, or just being debated in Congress?  If he is no longer a citizen, and was fighting for a regime that the world refused to acknowledge as a legal government, then he has no protections under the Geneva Convention, so therefore the debate is moot.

Thanks in advance

Your citizenship can be stripped if you fight for another army. Says so in every passport.

BTW, the Saudi guy at Gitmo renounced his citizenship as part of his deal to go home.

So, then, I know this question is largely rhetorical, why are these people screaming to the rafters about a US citizen being denied his rights???  He HAS no rights, not according to US law and also, which libs hate when I point out, not even under UN law or the Geneva Convention.  He has voluntarily placed himself into a gray area of no man's land where he has no protections, and chose to put himself there.  How can people scream about how this poor innocent victim is being forced to get a little less sleep than he would normally?  What is their rationale?

Quoted: Your citizenship can be stripped if you fight for another army. Says so in every passport.

It is not true.  The Supreme Court has ruled that a natural born citizen of the US cannot have his/her citizenship involuntarily revoked.  They can voluntarily renounce US citizenship while overseas, but cannot be forced to do so.  There are provisions for revoking the citizenship of naturalized citizens, usually because of fraud in their application.

Go to the source:

travel.state.gov/law/loss.html

Quoted: Go to the source: travel.state.gov/law/loss.html

Notice that it says with the intention of relinquishing US citizenship.  That's the part the Supreme court used to forbid involuntary stripping of a natural born citizen's citizenship.

A U.S. Citizen fighting for a foreign Army or taking up arms against the United States is no less than Treason in my book. I would think fighting against one's country is a less than subtle way of renouncing your citizenship, not to mention the rights afforded to you by such.

Quoted: Your citizenship can be stripped if you fight for another army. Says so in every passport.

I have a friend who is an American citizen (born here). He served in the IDF and is now a US Air Force Reserve officer. I think you may be confusing one who joins a foreign army and takes up arms against the United States as an enemy combatant who can be stripped of his citizenship.  

Fighting for another country is not treason in itself...but fighting for another country against the US is.

Treason is Violation of allegiance toward one's country or sovereign, especially the betrayal of one's country by waging war against it or by consciously and purposely acting to aid its enemies.

if you renounce your citizenship and become a citizen of another country and the old country attacks the new country I would expect anyone here to fight for the new county.  


What is wrong with that?

Quoted: Quoted: Your citizenship can be stripped if you fight for another army. Says so in every passport. I have a friend who is an American citizen (born here). He served in the IDF and is now a US Air Force Reserve officer. I think you may be confusing one who joins a foreign army and takes up arms against the United States as an enemy combatant who can be stripped of his citizenship.

I'm aware that some do. It does say that your citizenship can be revoked in my passport. My latest one is only a year old.