Allegiance

About a month ago the US Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional to ban “birthright citizenship”.

That’s, whoever born in USA irrespective of parental illegal status, will continue to be a born US citizen.

And with it, the eligibility to work in sensitive jobs allowing only citizens.

And, of course, the eligibility to run for the US presidency.

I have no US citizenship.

I did have the green card but gave it back.

I received my three degrees from US universities.

I worked as a student in the US, and also later when out of college.

The Supreme Court decision shouldn’t concern me.

But it stirred some ripples.

First and foremost, the American naïveté, in particular in the legal circles.

It only takes a long term calculation of a populous adversary to have millions of babies born in the USA, raised in its own ideology back home for 18-22 years, then there will be millions of voters, even possible US President.

One would say that’s too Machiavellian a thought; which country would be so evil and scheming?

And which country could exercise that kind of control over its populace?

Well, just do an AI search on something like “Birth Tourism” or check the FBI site.

It’s possible that the USA is already decades behind the race!

But this realisation points to an even graver issue of allegiance because being born in the country, i.e., a born citizen, is not a sure fire guarantee of allegiance.

Allegiance asks for more than that.

Let’s backtrack the steps of the problem a little.

I was in the USA when 911 took place in 2001. None of the 19 cold blooded terrorists was US citizens.

They were mainly on tourist and student visas.

The reactions then were directed against foreign nationals not being citizens nor permanent residents.

Americans still felt a stronger sense of allegiance from these two groups, the distinction between born citizens and naturalised citizens practically not in the conversation.

So when the Boston Marathon bombing (2013) brothers’ were found to be naturalised citizens, it suddenly dawned on Americans that foreign nationals getting US green cards and even citizenship gave no greater comfort.

But it could still be explained that they were originally from Chechnya and hence with Russian connections, and were not born US citizens.

The notion that hurting America progressing from being perpetrated by people with tourist or student visa to naturalised citizens was already a fact that couldn’t be denied.

As long as there was some adversary state, this would be a weak link.

The line of defence or allegiance naturally moved back one notch, to US born citizens.

But that zone of comfort was shattered when the Pulse nightclub shooting, Orlando, Florida — June 12, 2016, took 49 lives.

It was committed by a NY born citizen to Afghan parents.

This was widely viewed as the deadliest jihadist terror since 911, pledging allegiance to ISIS, not USA.

The latest one took place in New Orleans in 2025 where a truck was used to run down 14 people, purportedly in allegiance with ISIS.

There would be many others and the theory that US born citizens to one or two parents of foreign citizenship could be radicalised to hurt America no longer remained theory.

That being a fact and reality, what’s to prevent the children of birth tourism return to the home country of their non US citizen parents for the entire 18-22 years of education not become indoctrinated with hatred towards America?

There’s no longer any need for radicalised gun or other mass murders.

All would be needed would be a vote in all levels of the legislative bodies, aligning with that adversary county’s objectives.

Theoretically all congressmen and senators could be citizens, US born or naturalised. Many hold more than one passport.

So the opportunity is already there for any adversary state radicalised legislator to do harm, politically not with guns and trucks.

Why is such a fierce concern against the Supreme Court’s ruling?

Why not focus on making sure that allegiance is to one flag, one constitution, and most importantly owns only one passport?

In this respect, the HKSARG is more advanced in that all principal officers, and legislators (with a few exceptions) cannot hold any foreign passport.

But of course, their spouse and children could and most often do.

That’s a different story requiring a separate discussion.

And of course returning to the USA context of birthright citizenship, what’s to prevent a US born citizens to parents of born citizens of white European decent, from being “bought” by a wealthy adversary state, to cast whatever votes hurting America?

That too, is another different story altogether, granted it could have been happening in USA, or in Hong Kong.

Allegiance is way too slippery and fragile.

There’s no silver bullet.

But increasingly improved filter and precautionary protocols still have to be devised.

The interest of a nation or a culture is too valuable to risk.

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Source of images:

(1)   911 attacks south tower before and after (Anonymous. Courtesy of the Prints and Photographs Division. Library of Congress., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

(2)   1st Boston Marathon blast seen from 2nd floor and a half block away (Aaron Tang, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)

(3)   Pulse fence memorials (Walter from Tampa/St Petersburg, Florida, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)