[eighthnate]

> I like to joke that I have more documenting showing my legal right to be in the US than my wife's grandmother.

You are mistaken. Your wife's grandmother ( assuming she is native born ), even though she may not have "papers", is undeportable. Whereas you have legal documents showing that you are not a a native born citizen. You are someone that we can deport. Naturalized citizens can be deported from the US. A native born american cannot.

> Americans seem quite dead set against a national ID scheme (and associated database).

There really is no need. Most americans have state IDs and if they want to travel abroad, US passports.

> ICE, interior immigration checkpoints, and other initiatives seem to be on the rise.

But for american born citizens, that isn't a worry. It's a worry for immigrants - legal or illegal. Not for native born citizens.

[tony101]

> "Naturalized citizens can be deported from the US."

Naturalized citizens cannot be deported unless the government first proves in an Article III Federal Court that they obtained citizenship fraudulently and the court revokes their citizenship.

Source: https://www.uscis.gov/policymanual/Print/PolicyManual-Volume...

> "Most americans have state IDs"

State IDs don't prove citizenship. IDs from States that don't comply with the REAL ID Act don't even necessarily prove legal presence.

> "But for american born citizens, that isn't a worry. It's a worry for immigrants - legal or illegal. Not for native born citizens."

Why would it be reasonable to have a system that "worries" legal immigrants? Should legal immigrants, especially naturalized American citizens, be harassed by the government?

[cafard]

"State IDS don't prove citizenship."

Nope. Back in the 1970s when I had medium-long hair (cut every four or five months) a bored INS guy in Detroit passed a couple of minutes asking me to establish my right to enter the US. The driver's license didn't prove anything, nor in his opinion did the draft card. At that point I just shrugged and he waved me through.

[eighthnate]

> Naturalized citizens cannot be deported unless the government first proves in an Article III Federal Court that they obtained citizenship fraudulently and the court revokes their citizenship.

So naturalized citizens can be deported whereas a natural born american citizen cannot.

> Should legal immigrants, especially naturalized American citizens, be harassed by the government?

Don't remember saying they should.

[tony101]

> "So naturalized citizens can be deported whereas a natural born american citizen cannot."

That's misleading.

A "naturalized citizen" who is proven to have fraudulently obtained citizenship, and therefore deportable, is considered to never have legally become a citizen in the first place. So this person would only have been a pretend "naturalized citizen" on the surface, and by the time they are deported they are not considered to be a naturalized citizen.

A real naturalized citizen, who legitimately obtained citizenship, cannot be deported against their will, no matter what they do after becoming a citizen.

So a naturalized citizen cannot be deported. A person who pretends to be a legally naturalized citizen but really isn't, can.

This is all in contrast to non-citizen immigrants, such as green card holding permanent residents, who can be deported for "aggravated felonies" as well as other specified reasons.

> "Don't remember saying they should."

I read it that way, but if that was not your intent then OK.

[yen223]

> ( assuming she is native born )

That's the key point. How do you prove this if your documents are shoddy?