Citizenship

The conductor Daniel Barenboim, already a contentious figure among fellow Israelis for championing Palestinians' rights and the works of Hitler's favorite composer, has accepted honorary Palestinian citizenship. Barenboim was given citizenship a year ago, but the move didn't become public until this past weekend, when a Palestinian lawmaker mentioned it after Barenboim held a performance in the West Bank city of Ramallah. The Argentine-born conductor is the first Israeli to be granted citizenship by the Palestinian Authority.

Re "Payback for a tax refugee," Opinion, May 16 In calling for Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin to be exiled from the United States, Bruce Ackerman seems to argue that people should not be able to move freely around the world, even as our policies embrace free trade. Ackerman ignores that Saverin has always had two national loyalties and now lives in a third country. Such "third culture kids" are increasingly common today, and many are not super-rich. Rather, their statuses reflect a beneficial global market of talent moving across borders.

WASHINGTON - Eduardo Saverin fled Brazil as a boy and lived the American dream by helping found Facebook Inc. Now two U.S. senators want to make sure he never sets foot in the U.S. again unless he pays tens of millions of dollars in taxes he will owe after the company's initial public offering Friday. Saverin renounced his U.S. citizenship this year and is living in Singapore, a country with no capital gains tax. Sens. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Bob Casey (D-Pa.) denounced him Thursday as a tax dodger and introduced legislation to punish anyone who gives up citizenship to duck big tax bills.

For several moments, Pau Gasol began to tear up.He was talking about how winning the NBA's J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award "means a lot" and is a "great honor" and it was obvious those were more than just words as he began thinking about all the sick children he's visited on various trips as a UNICEF ambassador.

Francisco Menjivar has spent months memorizing answers to civics questions like, "Who wrote 'The Star-Spangled Banner?' " (Francis Scott Key) and "How many voting members are in the House of Representatives?" (435). He knows answers to most of the 96 questions and isn't about to put that hard work to waste.

Maliwan Clinton recalls her first taste of America with a shudder. In this fabled land of the free, she was enslaved behind razor wire and around-the-clock guards in an El Monte sweatshop, where she and more than 70 other Thai laborers were forced to work 18-hour days for what amounted to less than a dollar an hour.

A leading California foundation plans today to announce a broad campaign to help Los Angeles immigrants become more active citizens with a new $3.75-million, five-year program to help them learn English, improve job skills and increase civic participation. The California Community Foundation in Los Angeles also is set to release a 75-page report that documents the essential and dynamic role immigrants play in the regional economy and suggests ways to help them become even more productive.

A new citizenship program launched by the Asian Pacific American Legal Center not only helps Asian and Pacific Islander immigrants with naturalization, but also encourages their involvement in the community and the political process.

CHESTER TOWNSHIP, Pa. - Marco Rubio took the stage with Mitt Romney and delivered what the presidential candidate wanted - a jolt of energy aimed at an uninspired Republican base and a message of inclusion to Latino voters, who have drifted away from the party in droves. Monday's appearance by Rubio, a Florida senator and possible vice presidential pick who has become one of his party's most prominent Latino leaders, drew cheers and applause from the crowd. But it was also a reminder of competing imperatives facing Romney after a combative primary season in which he moved far to the right on illegal immigration, a key concern for many Latino voters.

Is citizenship a commodity, to be bought and sold when the price is right? Eduardo Saverin, co-founder of Facebook, thinks so. After becoming an American 14 years ago, he has traded his citizenship in the country that helped make him rich for the low-cost Singapore product. According to the New York Times, he denies making the switch for pecuniary reasons, but it's hard to believe. He stands to gain $4 billion from Facebook's imminent public offering, which has to make Singapore tax laws enticing.

WASHINGTON - Eduardo Saverin fled Brazil as a boy and lived the American dream by helping found Facebook Inc. Now two U.S. senators want to make sure he never sets foot in the U.S. again unless he pays tens of millions of dollars in taxes he will owe after the company's initial public offering Friday. Saverin renounced his U.S. citizenship this year and is living in Singapore, a country with no capital gains tax. Sens. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Bob Casey (D-Pa.) denounced him Thursday as a tax dodger and introduced legislation to punish anyone who gives up citizenship to duck big tax bills.

Re "Tax-savvy move by Web firm pioneer?," Business, May 12 Even jokingly suggesting that Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg leave the United States and give up his U.S. citizenship to avoid paying his taxes really disgusted me. Indeed, he owes the United States and California a deep debt of gratitude for providing the comfort, the resources and the social and economic climate that enabled him to indulge his creative juices. Leaving the country to evade taxes is just as immoral as moving one's business out of the country.

Is citizenship a commodity, to be bought and sold when the price is right? Eduardo Saverin, co-founder of Facebook, thinks so. After becoming an American 14 years ago, he has traded his citizenship in the country that helped make him rich for the low-cost Singapore product. According to the New York Times, he denies making the switch for pecuniary reasons, but it's hard to believe. He stands to gain $4 billion from Facebook's imminent public offering, which has to make Singapore tax laws enticing.

WASHINGTON — One day after calling her dual Swiss-U.S. citizenship a "non-story," Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann asked the Swiss government Thursday to take her name off its rolls. "I am and always have been 100% committed to our United States Constitution and the United States of America," said Bachmann, a tea party favorite and former candidate for the Republican presidential nomination. Swiss citizenship was automatically conferred in 1978 when she married Marcus Bachmann, the son of Swiss immigrants, she said, and the recent news was merely because she and her family had updated their documents.

WASHINGTON -- Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmannhas withdrawn her Swiss citizenship after news that she and her children had recently applied for Swiss papers caused a stir. Referring to the Swiss citizenship as an “automatic” designation conferred upon her when she married her husband Marcus Bachmann, the son of Swiss immigrants, Bachmann said she was withdrawing the citizenship to make clear her allegiance to the U.S.  “Today I sent a letter to the Swiss Consulate requesting withdrawal of my dual Swiss citizenship, which was conferred upon me by operation of Swiss law when I married my husband in 1978,” Bachmann said in a statement.

CHESTER TOWNSHIP, Pa. - Marco Rubio took the stage with Mitt Romney and delivered what the presidential candidate wanted - a jolt of energy aimed at an uninspired Republican base and a message of inclusion to Latino voters, who have drifted away from the party in droves. Monday's appearance by Rubio, a Florida senator and possible vice presidential pick who has become one of his party's most prominent Latino leaders, drew cheers and applause from the crowd. But it was also a reminder of competing imperatives facing Romney after a combative primary season in which he moved far to the right on illegal immigration, a key concern for many Latino voters.

Congratulations to all the newly sworn-in Americans! I, too, could have become an American citizen this June. It would have allowed me to accept the Naval Academy's offer of an appointment to prepare me as an officer of the U.S. Navy. My father had passed his test/interview on June 5. As a minor child, my U.S. citizenship was riding on that of my father's. There was a July 2 deadline set by the academy for me to meet the citizenship requirement. The INS had scheduled five swearing-in days between June 19-28.

WASHINGTON — One day after calling her dual Swiss-U.S. citizenship a "non-story," Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann asked the Swiss government Thursday to take her name off its rolls. "I am and always have been 100% committed to our United States Constitution and the United States of America," said Bachmann, a tea party favorite and former candidate for the Republican presidential nomination. Swiss citizenship was automatically conferred in 1978 when she married Marcus Bachmann, the son of Swiss immigrants, she said, and the recent news was merely because she and her family had updated their documents.