The Northern Virginia doctor knows at least that much about his situation. He knows he is no longer considered a citizen of the United States — the place where he was born, went to school and has practiced medicine for more than 30 years — and that he also belongs to no other place.

A letter from a State Department official informed him that he should not have been granted citizenship at the time of his birth because his father was a diplomat with the Embassy of Iran. The letter directed Sobhani to a website where he could apply for lawful permanent residence.

  • El Barto@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    What’s ironic about that?

    I don’t agree with most right wing politics, but I don’t understand your comment.

    It’s like saying that it’s ironic that an exemplary contributor to society could get a ticket if they speed while driving.

    Edit 2:

    Ah, I see it now. You’re specifically saying that he’ll be denied citizenship when he applies for it, because he has, unknowingly, misrepresented himself as a U.S. citizen. That’s not irony. That’s fucked up. And sort of a catch-22.

    You may discard my previous edit below.

    Edit:

    Why the downvotes? I mean, I’m pro-immigration, bros. But the law is clear: you claim you’re a U.S. citizen when you aren’t, you can (potentially) get in trouble. I got naturalized, and I’ve received voting packages a couple of times when I wasn’t a citizen. That shit freaked me out and I immediately had to contact the relevant offices and very explicitly tell them that they made a mistake because I was not a citizen. I didn’t want any immigration officer checking my files later and say “aha! You got voting packages a couple of times! Did you try to claim you’re a U.S. citizen? You did, right? Citizenship denied!”

    So, regardless of what you think about it, that’s a law (“Do not claim you’re a citizen if you aren’t.”) My question wasn’t about that. My question was, why was OP claiming that it is ironic that a person who falsely claims is a U.S. citizen could get in trouble. So, instead of downvoting, can you answer my very genuine question?

    • ElderWendigo@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      So if I understand you correctly, being a good citizen by paying taxes and contributing to your community is less significant than a clerical error on some paperwork filed more than half a century ago. May you’re right, that’s not ironic. But you and I have very different values for what it takes to be a good citizen. Your speed ticket straw-man argument is irrelevant.

      • El Barto@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Edit: I understood now, and I added an “Edit 2” to my original comment to clarify.

        No, you misunderstood me on the values thing. You seemed to be pro-immigration and so am I. And I disagree with you on the strawman argument. It was an analogy for illustration.

        I was just solely commenting on the irony part, and you agreed with me. The sentence, regardless of content is not ironic. I wanted OP to clarify in case I was missing something. That is all.