Derivative Citizenship: Total Discretion, No Recourse According to federal law, an individual can acquire what is known as derivative citizenship through the naturalization of a parent or spouse. Denaturalization jeopardizes derivative citizenship because it invalidates naturalization retroactively, as if it had never occurred in the first place.318 In such circumstances, the government does not treat derivative citizens uniformly, and no public policy or guidance exists on the subject. It is entirely possible that a naturalized U.S. citizen could lose their citizenship due to the actions of a relative—a clear example of guilt by association. The “relation back” doctrine holds that when a person is denaturalized and loses U.S. citizenship, that person reverts to the immigration status held prior to naturalization. As such, this principle may have implications for any person who benefitted from that naturalization, including those who derived their citizenship from this person.319 The reason why citizenship was revoked, and the physical location of where the derivative citizen resides at the time of their relative’s denaturalization, determines whether the derivative will also lose citizenship.320 If a relative’s citizenship was “illegally procured,” the derivative citizen can retain U.S. citizenship. USCIS has confirmed that “the citizenship of a spouse or child who became a U.S. citizen through the naturalization of his or her parent or spouse is not lost if the revocation was based on illegal procurement.”321 However, if the relative’s citizenship was procured by “willful misrepresentation,” the derivative’s citizenship is automatically lost. Location of Residency Reason for Revocation Inside the U.S. Outside the U.S. Concealment of a material fact or willful misrepresentation Citizenship Lost Citizenship Lost Membership in certain organizations or discharged from military Citizenship Kept Citizenship Lost Other reason for denaturalization (i.e. “illegal procurement”) Citizenship Kept Citizenship Kept Though the statute’s language speaks of children and spouses, “only children of citizens can acquire or derive their citizenship through citizen parents today, spouses were also eligible for derived citizenship up until 1922, making it likely that the language is a remnant of a bygone era.”322 II. Denaturalization: A Radical Measure in the Hands of Zealots 75