Proposed bill to end dual citizenship: Should Fil-Ams be worried?

A few months ago, this corner addressed the widely circulating reports, or shall we say rumors, of an October crackdown on dual citizenship in America.

As this corner noted back then: “The way those eye-catching headlines on social media reports dealing with dual citizenship issues are bandied about online, one would think that anyone holding dual citizenship in America is bound for the gallows. Unfortunately, most social media posters, especially on YouTube and TikTok, churn out misleading headings and taglines to generate millions of views for profit, causing unnecessary worry and confusion among the millions of dual citizens in the US.”

Like a runaway train, this thing isn’t braking.

Last week, a US senator from the Midwest introduced a bill in the US Congress proposing to eliminate dual citizenship. Immediately after the news broke, various social media outlets, especially on YouTube and TikTok, erupted with all kinds of doom and gloom stories, trumpeting such click-baiting headlines as “No More Dual Citizenship????,” “US To End Dual Citizenship,” and “Killing Dual Citizenship,” to point out a few.

Before everyone starts packing their bags and surrendering their American passport to the nearest US consulate, let’s calm down and take a deep dive into the issue.

First of all, it’s just a proposal, one of the thousands of pending bills in the US Congress.

The bill, titled “Exclusive Citizenship Act of 2025,” was introduced by Ohio Senator Bernie Moreno, a Colombia native who immigrated to the US when he was a child. Upon turning 18, he dumped his Colombian nationality and assumed US citizenship exclusively.

With the current political gridlock in Washington, D.C., there is no telling when the bill will advance. As a controversial proposal, the bill will certainly require a ton of heavy lifting to move forward, assuming that it does.

Secondly, there are members of the US Congress who, despite the non-public nature thereof, have dual or multiple nationalities, either due to the jus soli (right of the soil) rule of their countries of birth, or the jus sanguinis (right of the blood) citizenship privilege derived from their ascendants. Most of these lawmakers will oppose the bill at every turn.

Thirdly, powerful lobbyists representing influential dual citizens in America may, under the guise of a Beltway dance, kill the bill even before it exits the chamber. Indeed, what do billionaires Elon Musk (Tesla, X), Peter Thiel (PayPal), and Rupert Murdoch (Fox News), among other mega-rich Americans, have in common?

They’re all US citizens having dual or multiple nationalities.

Fourthly, there are cases which not only affirm the constitutionality of dual citizenship in America, but also limit the congressional power to set standards for renouncing one’s citizenship (although admittedly there’s no guarantee that the current Supreme Court, based on its rightward decision-making trajectory, will traverse a similar jurisprudential path — it may not).

Lastly, what would the US President do if his wife and favorite son’s citizenship status come under threat?

Per news reports, Ms. Melania Trump, originally from Slovenia, retained her Slovenian nationality after becoming a US citizen. She also applied on behalf of her son, which means both of them are holding dual American-Slovenian citizenship.

Should dual Fil-Am citizens be worried? Probably not, at least for now.