Ninety-five-year-old Leeland Davidson discovered recently that he's not considered a U.S. citizen, despite living nearly 100 years in the country and serving in the U.S. Navy during WWII.
Davidson, from Centralia, Washington, told KOMO News that he discovered he wasn't a U.S. citizen when he was turned down for an enhanced driver's license he needed for a trip to Canada to visit relatives.
"We always figured because he was born to U.S. parents he's automatically a U.S. citizen," said Davidson's daughter, Rose Schoolcraft.
Davidson was born in British Columbia in 1916, but his parents didn't register the birth with the U.S. government to ensure they knew he was a citizen. He checked up on his citizenship before joining the Navy and was told by an inspector at the U.S. Department of Labor Immigration and Naturalization Service he had nothing to worry about. Now he worries that he won't be able to prove his citizenship, because his parents were born in Iowa before local governments started keeping records of birth certificates in 1880. "I want it squared away before I pass away," he says.
Schoolcraft says they tried to dissuade him from pursuing the matter. Employees at the local passport office scared them, telling her father "If he pursued it, (he could) possibly be deported or [be] at risk of losing Social Security."
"We keep telling him, leave it alone, leave it alone, and he won't, like a dog with a bone," Schoolcraft told the Centralia Chronicle. But Davidson says: "I want to get it done before I die." He also still wants to visit his friends and family in Canada. Sen Patty Murray's office is helping him with his application.

WebFire;723850 wrote:Free pass. Hell, we let illegal immigrants do whatever they want in this country. Why can't this guy have citizenship?

sleeper;724063 wrote:I'm going to ask it if no one else will...

Is the guy black?

Bigred1995;724065 wrote:The reason no one asked is probably because they clicked the link; but what would that have to do with anything?

O-Trap;724069 wrote:Why can he not go through citizenship procedures? I don't like the notion of "free pass," because it creates an allowance for subjective criteria. At that point, who gets to decide?

I sympathize, and I have great respect for the man, but if he is not a citizen, he's not a citizen. Facts are facts.

sleeper;724068 wrote:Nothing really, he just didn't know who his parents were.

O-Trap;724069 wrote:Why can he not go through citizenship procedures? I don't like the notion of "free pass," because it creates an allowance for subjective criteria. At that point, who gets to decide?

I sympathize, and I have great respect for the man, but if he is not a citizen, he's not a citizen. Facts are facts.

O-Trap;724069 wrote:Why can he not go through citizenship procedures? I don't like the notion of "free pass," because it creates an allowance for subjective criteria. At that point, who gets to decide?

I sympathize, and I have great respect for the man, but if he is not a citizen, he's not a citizen. Facts are facts.

Bigred1995;724074 wrote: This is the exact conversation I was looking to start! What if a Mexican-American, that fought in Dessert Strom come forward with the same type of situation; does he too get a free pass?

The issue for Mr. Leeland Davidson is mainly the lack of records. If they're willing to accept past Census records, I'm sure it'd be a pretty easy and painless process.

WebFire;724070 wrote:I think when the Navy accepted him, especially after he questioned his citizenship, he became a citizen, even if by mistake. It's not like he tried to deceive the system.

Bigred1995;724074 wrote:This is the exact conversation I was looking to start! What if a Mexican-American, that fought in Dessert Strom come forward with the same type of situation; does he too get a free pass?

The issue for Mr. Leeland Davidson is mainly the lack of records. If they're willing to accept past Census records, I'm sure it'd be a pretty easy and painless process.

THE4RINGZ;724095 wrote:Nothing is easy and painless when the government is involved. I hope they get it straightened out while the old guy is still alive.

sleeper;724092 wrote:I agree, I'd also like him to repay his social security benefits. I can't believe he was allowed to receive these in the first place.

sleeper;724092 wrote:I agree, I'd also like him to repay his social security benefits. I can't believe he was allowed to receive these in the first place.

O-Trap;724138 wrote:I don't think the letter of the law provides this as an allowance, though.

Again, I sympathize, but because someone else did their job incorrectly (a person errantly telling him he was a citizen) doesn't provide "loophole" grounds, I don't think.

In any case, I hope it all gets straightened out.