UNMAKING CITIZENS: THE EXPANSION OF CITIZENSHIP REVOCATION IN RESPONSE TO TERRORISM historic and contemporary laws,46 which include the British Nationality and Status Act of 1914, British Nationality Act 1981, Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002, Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006, the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015, and the Immigration Act 2014.47 Current UK citizenship revocation laws and practices emanate from the British Nationality Act (BNA) 1981 (enacted in 1983, but subsequently amended in accordance with the additional aforementioned Acts), which states that citizenship may be revoked if the legal action is conducive to the public good without rendering said individual stateless or the individual acquired their citizenship through fraudulent means.48 Additionally, the BNA 1981 also stipulates that the Home Secretary has the power, “to deny or revoke passports when this is considered to be in the national interest,” through what is known as the Royal Prerogative (power that does not require legislative process or action).49 The UK has expanded its citizenship revocation laws and practices since the passage of the BNA. However, revocation was seldom utilized until the BNA 1981 was amended with the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 (NIAA 2002),50 which broadened the application of revocation to acts that are “seriously prejudicial to the vital interests of the UK or a British overseas territory” and to citizens by birth.51 Concurrent to the passage of the NIAA 2002, the UK government was also ratifying the 1997 European Convention on Statelessness. In doing so, the UK government cemented its international and EU obligations to prevent statelessness. The ratification of the 1997 Convention ensured that revocation powers could only be applied to those with dual citizenship. Thus, foreignborn naturalized citizens tend to be the primary target population.52 Following the 2005 London terrorist bombings and other high-profile cases involving dual citizens who were charged with promoting or supporting terrorist activities, the UK government again altered its citizenship policies.53 The Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act (IANA) 2006 expanded the UK Home Secretary’s ability to engage in citizenship revocation. Although terrorism is not explicitly linked to revocation in the IANA 2006, its vague and open-ended language – “deprivation is conducive to the public good” – expands the actions that can be deemed sufficient for revocation.54 46 Matthew Gibney, “‘A Very Transcendental Power’: Denaturalisation and the Liberalisation of Citizenship in the United Kingdom,” Political Studies 61, no. 3 (2013): 637-55; Forcese, “A Tale of Two Citizenships”; Melanie Gower, “Deprivation of British Citizenship and Withdrawal of Passport Facilities,” House of Commons Library, January 30, 2015, http://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/SN06820; Shai Lavi, “Citizenship Revocation as Punishment: On the Modern Duties of Citizens and Their Criminal Branch,” University of Toronto Law Journal 61, no. 4 (2011): 783-810; Lee Jarvis and Michael Lister, Anti-terrorism, Citizenship and Security (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015). 47 Ibid. 48 British Nationality Act 1981, § 40 (Gr. Brit.). 49 Gower, “Deprivation of British Citizenship and Withdrawal of Passport Facilities.” 50 Ibid. 51 Ibid. 52 Ibid. 53 The terrorist attacks that occurred in July 7, 2005, included four suicide bombings in London on public transportation that killed 52 and injured 920 people. Weeks later on July 21, 2005, three additional attacks on public transportation occurred in London, injuring 1 person. See Ian Cobain, “London bombings: the day the anti-terrorism rules changes,” The Guardian, July 7, 2010, https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2010/jul/07/london-bombings-anti-terrorism; Mark Oliver and James Sturcke, “Panic as London is hit again,” The Guardian, July 21, 2005, https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2005/jul/21/july7.uksecurity2. 54 The IANA 2006 added language to the British Nationality Act 1981, section 40, “Deprivation of citizenship”; Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006, § 56 (Gr. Brit.). Center for Migration Studies of New York | 7