AN article which appeared in this morning’s Variety reports that, according to Neal Weare, “Citizenship for residents of U.S. territories…could be revoked by Congress at any time.” While that may be true for Guam, it is not true for the Northern Mariana Islands.
Sections 301 and 303 of the Covenant provide for United States citizenship for the people of the Northern Mariana Islands. Section 105 of the Covenant provides that certain “fundamental provisions” of the Covenant, specifically including Article III, “may be modified only with the consent of the Government of the United States and the Government of the Northern Mariana Islands.”
So, either Mr. Neale is wrong, which I doubt, or his position was misinterpreted. While Washington gives us plenty of things to worry about, involuntary loss of United States citizenship is not one of them.
MICHAEL A. WHITE, ESQ.
The Law Offices of Michael A. White, LLC
