Expatriation,
or the stripping away citizenship and all the rights that come with it, is usually associated with despotic and totalitarian regimes. The imagery of mass
expulsion of once integral members of the community is associated with civil
wars, ethnic cleansing, the Holocaust, or other oppressive historical events.
Yet these practices are not just a product of undemocratic events or extreme
situations, but are standard clauses within the legal systems of most
democratic states, including the United States. Witness, for example, Yaser
Esam Hamdi, captured in Afghanistan in November 2001, sent to Guantánamo,
transferred to a naval brig in South Carolina when it was revealed that he was
a U.S. citizen, and held there without trial until 2004, when the Justice
Department released Hamdi to Saudi Arabia without charge on the condition that
he renounce his U.S. citizenship.
Hamdi’s
story may be the best known expatriation story in recent memory, but in Revoking Citizenship, Ben Herzog reveals
America’s long history of making both naturalized immigrants and native-born
citizens un-American after their citizenship was stripped away. Tracing this
history from the early republic through the Cold War, Herzog locates the
sociological, political, legal, and historic meanings of revoking citizenship.
Why, when, and with what justification do states take away citizenship from
their subjects? Should loyalty be judged according to birthplace or actions?
Using the history and policies of revoking citizenship as a lens, Revoking Citizenship examines, describes,
and analyzes the complex relationships between citizenship, immigration, and national identity.
