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?

  • Crackhappy@lemmy.world
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    7 days ago

    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.

    • A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      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.

      • Ashelyn@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        6 days ago

        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

        • A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world
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          6 days ago

          No, I just brain farted and said south instead of central.

          Proper call out. Gonna leave my post unedited, so your callout remains relevant.

    • barneypiccolo@lemm.ee
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      7 days ago

      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.

      • NιƙƙιDιɱҽʂ@lemmy.world
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        6 days ago

        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.

        • barneypiccolo@lemm.ee
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          6 days ago

          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.

    • JakenVeina@lemm.ee
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      6 days ago

      Also depends how much presence you have on social media, and how public you are avout your political opinions there.

  • ERROR: Earth.exe has crashed@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    7 days ago

    As a PRC-Born, Naturalized* US Citizen, I do not feel safe entering/exiting the US borders right now. I told my PRC-Citizen father and grandmother (who lives with us) to not do any border crossings.

    *technically it’s Derivative Citizenship, Green Card holders under the age of 18 automatically become a citizen if one of the parents become a citizen

    If I were a cis-gender white person born in the US, I would probably feel okay crossing borders if I don’t have tattos and don’t have a high-profile anti-trump publicity. I would still wipe any phone before border crossings, load it up photos of my cat, and random nature photos I’ve taken. Zero political content on the device.

    You said you naturalized during Biden’s presidency, which means you’ve been citizen for less than 5 years. During this time period, if the government believes you are a terrorist, or a member of a “communist” or “totalitarian” party, they could revoke your citizenship. So maybe wait till 5 years + 1 day after your naturalization just to be safe.

    But consider permanent emigration to UK, in case things get worse in the US (I’m not saying to do it now, but keep in mind the possibility).

    Edit: So if you natualize in January 1, 2021, I’d wait till January 3, 2026, to be extra safe.

    But remember, this administration is gonna try to find every legal justification they can if they really want to get you.

  • Evotech@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    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

  • JcbAzPx@lemmy.world
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    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.

    • CandleTiger@programming.dev
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      only going after overt political dissidents and brown immigrants

      They seem to have detained some white tourists lately as well.

  • TheGalacticVoid@lemm.ee
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    5 days ago

    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.

  • iowagneiss@midwest.social
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    6 days ago

    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.

  • smokingpistol@lemm.ee
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    6 days ago

    It’s still a stupid fucking question, You’re an American citizen point blank period.

    • badelf@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      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”.

      • smokingpistol@lemm.ee
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        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

          • smokingpistol@lemm.ee
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            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?

              • smokingpistol@lemm.ee
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                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

      • shplane@lemmy.world
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        6 days ago

        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

      • NotSteve_@lemmy.ca
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        8 days ago

        Yeah there’s been multiple reports of white Canadian women being detained for weeks before being let go

        • anomnom@sh.itjust.works
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          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.

    • Skullgrid@lemmy.world
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      7 days ago

      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.

      • pelespirit@sh.itjust.works
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        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

    • /home/pineapplelover@lemm.ee
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      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.

      • gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works
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        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.

      • gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works
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        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.

        • Fredthefishlord@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          …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

  • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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    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.

      • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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        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.

      • Rivalarrival@lemmy.today
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        8 days ago

        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?

        • radix@lemmy.world
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          8 days ago

          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.

      • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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        8 days ago

        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.

    • jeffw@lemmy.worldM
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      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

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    8 days ago

    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…

    fuck I hate this timeline

    • Lenny@lemmy.worldOP
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      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.

    • idiomaddict@lemmy.world
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      8 days ago

      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

  • Geetnerd@lemmy.world
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    8 days ago

    Very. We have a Mad King ruling.

    People are being deported to foreign gulags without Due Process: which means, without a trial.

    Stay away.