Title: Mitt Romney's Mexican Roots; His Father Was Born In Mexico, Romney Not a Natural Born US Citizen? Source:
YouTube URL Source:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5E6jetXBac Published:Jan 13, 2012 Author:MrObamanos Post Date:2012-01-26 12:21:58 by GreyLmist Keywords:Mitt Romney, Article II, Section 1, Clause Views:243 Comments:12
Poster Comment:
My research summary:
Mitt Romney's paternal great-frandfather, Miles Park Romney, and other Mormons rejected the Edmund Act of 1882, which declared polygamy a felony. They moved as fugitives into Mexico in 1884. Mitt Romney's paternal grandparents were both born in Utah. His paternal grandfather, Gaskell Romney, was about 13-years old at the time his family crossed the border to live in Mexico and his paternal grandmother, Anna Amelia Pratt, was about 8-years old when her family moved there as well. Mitt Romney's father, George Wilcken Romney, was born to them in Mexico in 1907 and they moved to the U.S. in 1912, when he was 5 years old, to flee the Mexican Revolution -- apparently without immigration documents or citizenship prodedures for their family. Until then, they had chosen to stay in Mexico upon adulthood, marry and have children there in permanent residence.
Even though Mexicans/foreigners are under the mistaken impression that their children must become citizens automatically if born on our soil, an American parent is expected to meet strict requirements as to their age and number of years of residency in this country, registry of the child's birth with a U.S. Consulate/Embassy, passport filings for the child -- that sort of thing -- in order to pass citizenship to their own children born abroad; as is questioned, among other things, in Obama's eligibility case per his mother. At the very least, whether Mitt Romney's father was officially counted as a citizen of Mexico at birth or not, neither of his father's parents would meet such U.S. residency criteria for his father to have been considered a foreign-soil born American citizen through them. Those are the legal lines of questioning per that timeframe which apply to Mitt Romney's eligibility or not for the office of America's President. Without documentation on the citizenship status of his father, Mitt Romney cannot meet the natural born citizenship criteria.
On a sidenote, his maternal grandfather, Harold Arundel LaFount, was born in the New Romney/Romney Marsh coastal area of Southeast England at Birmingham, co. Warwick/Wickshire. This is a link on the old Workhouse/Poorhouse/Prison there, which was one of several that issued its own specially minted currency/workhouse-tokens for relief of the poor during a national shortage of coins around 1812: The Workhouse - Birmingham, Warwickshire. This is a link for The Workhouse - Romney Marsh, Kent. And this is a pic of the old Walt Disney program that some posters might remember: The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh.
Appearing on The Chris Matthews Show, in a discussion on the upcoming Florida primary, Andrea Mitchell claimed that Mitt Romneys relatives entered the United States illegally.
And looking ahead to the next primary in Florida, 30 percent of the Hispanic community is Cuban-American. Thats a smaller proportion, and so the Hispanic community there is different. [sic] The other interesting little fact is about the Mexican Romneys, those looking back at all of those records say that Mitt Romney should look back at the records because the Romneys that came back from Mexico to the United States, they crossed the border illegally.
Mitchells remarks left conservative columnist Kathleen Parker in stunned silence. Well, you may have one-upped me on that one, Andrea! Parker exclaimed incredulously.
RELATED: Mitt Romney Calls For The Deportation Of President Obamas Uncle
As Newsbusters Noel Sheppard notes, it was unclear where Mitchell was basing this claim. Romneys Mexican roots have been widely reported; this morning, NPR wrote a story about Romneys Mexican family, but didnt explore whether his ancestors were documented citizens. [Cont.]
Some comments at the article site:
"the next time you hear those loud war squawks When Mitt stands to give his Presidential talks Remember theres nary a draftee In Mitts Mormon pedigree Cause hes from a line of purebred ChickenHawks!" -- Charles Ulysses Feney
"Even if George entered the U.S. as not-a-U.S.-citizen (which appears very possible), that still leaves Mitt being born IN the U.S. to an American-born U.S. citizen mother. Now - I wonder if there's ever been a precedent for this situation? Hmm: 44 presidents, leave out the first ones who are exempt from all this because of being founders or alive in the colonies at the time the Constitution was approved, knock out Chester Arthur whose dad was Irish born & who was plagued by rumors he himself was "foreign born" (nothing new under the sun), carry the 8, square the hypotenuse -- now who might be in the exact same situation as Mittens .... oh wait." -- Hout Bosques
"Research it. As a democrat, I don't wish for others to tell me how to think. All my democrat buddies "choose" to be in vogue (they don't dare disagree and be called racist, God forbid you get in critical thinking mode) totally denying the obvious. What do you call what Andrea is associating with Romney. Can you say "birther?" -- Marsan Magia
The Romney family's genealogy page states he lost all his "home and possessions" there. But the family later sued the Mexican government and was awarded damages in 1938. This seed money "put the family on a solid financial footing."
This is effing moronic. Mitt's father was certainly a US citizen - he was Governor of Michigan and a presidential candidate in 1968. But even if George Romney was not a citizen, Mitt was born in the US and that makes him a natural born citizen.
Was that romney scarecrow named after the romneys?
No -- Edit to add: not afaik, anyway -- but the Romney Marsh area in SE England isn't fictional and may have been named for them. Not sure, other than his maternal grandfather reportedly migrated here from that region but didn't have the last name Romney; was a French name: LaFount. Romney Marsh may have been named for the paternal side of his family or they may have taken that name from living in that location or from knowing people who did.
I could be wrong but, after further research, I suspect there's a possibility of some name changes prior to the time his family is said to have fled to Mexico (1874), due to investigations and prosecutions of a number of Mormons being pursued again after the Civil War for the heinous Mountain Meadows Massacre of a wagon train, while disguised as Indians. The attacks culminated on September 11, 1857. There were 120 killed and only 17 children under the age of seven spared, who were given to local families. Soon before those trial proceedings began again in 1871, Brigham Young removed some of the Massacre participants from the LDS church in 1870.
Here's a synopsis of the Scarecrow of Romney Marsh from Wikipedia:
Doctor Syn: The Reverend Doctor Christopher Syn is the smuggler hero of a series of novels by Russell Thorndike. The first book, Doctor Syn: A Tale of the Romney Marsh was published in 1915. The story idea came from smuggling in the 18th century Romney Marsh, where brandy and tobacco were brought in at night by boat from France to avoid high tax. Minor battles were fought, sometimes at night, between gangs of smugglers, such as the Hawkhurst Gang and the Revenue, supported by the army and local militias in the South, Kent and the West, Sussex.
The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh, was produced as a three-part television miniseries by Walt Disney in 1963. It starred Patrick McGoohan
The original three-part miniseries version was first shown on Disney's Wonderful World Of Color, February 9, 16 and 23, 1964
So, iirc, he was a Vicar by day and a swashbuckling-smuggler/Robin Hood-type character in scary costume by night. Here's a 4 1/2-min YT clip that kind of explains the storyline in the opening theme-song:
Artisan: good grief what a circus. thanks for the interesting post.
BTP Holdings: Good research. I wonder if we will ever get a legitimate President again?
I plan on voting for Ron Paul, no matter what. ;)
I appreciate your two thumbs up. :) The stunt to install a probable non-natural born citizen into the White House so as to globalize the office of our Presidency has been pulled several times now, Romney's father being one of the likely unqualified. I, too, plan on voting for Ron Paul, no matter what. ;)
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"They're on our left, they're on our right, they're in front of us, they're behind us...they can't get away this time." -- Col. Puller, USMC
This is effing moronic. Mitt's father was certainly a US citizen - he was Governor of Michigan and a presidential candidate in 1968. But even if George Romney was not a citizen, Mitt was born in the US and that makes him a natural born citizen.
Do you still not realize that a citizen born in the US does not always equate to being a natural born citizen? In the first place, Shoonra, Utah was not a State at the time Mitt Romney's great-grandfather and family left that territory (compare to Puerto Ricans) and they left as fugitives from the law, which might have some bearing thereafter on the "good moral character" clause of the The Naturalization Act of 1795. Besides that, his grandparents were never adult residents of the U.S. until his father was five years-old, when they entered this country as Mexican War refugees. I think I have posted here before about another example of citizenship not being automatically passed to offspring when the father remained abroad after adulthood, staying to marry and raise children there, as Romney's granparents did. Then there's the Child Citizenship Act of 2000 to consider, for instance:
The Child Citizenship Act of 2000 is a United States federal law that allows certain foreign-born, biological and adopted children of United States citizens to acquire United States citizenship automatically. These children did not acquire U.S. citizenship at birth, but they are granted citizenship when they enter the United States as lawful permanent residents. The law modified past rules for child citizenship.
To whom this act applies
The child must have at least one U.S. citizen parent by birth or naturalization, be under 18 years of age (have been born on or after February 27, 1983)[1], live in the legal and physical custody of the U.S. citizen parent, and be admitted as an immigrant for lawful permanent residence.
A person who becomes a U.S. citizen through naturalization is not considered a natural born citizen. Consequently, naturalized U.S. citizens are not eligible to become President of the United States or Vice President of the United States, which would ordinarily be the case as established by the Presidential Succession Act. For example, though the Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary of Labor are tenth and eleventh in the presidential line of succession, Elaine Chao and Carlos Gutierrez (respectively former U.S. Secretaries of Labor and Commerce under President George W. Bush) would have been unable to succeed to the presidency because they became U.S. citizens through naturalization. The highest-ranking naturalized citizens to have been excluded from the Presidential Line of Succession were Henry Kissinger and Madeleine Albright, each of whom would have been fourth in line as Secretary of State had they been natural born citizens.
[sic]
While it is true that "natural born citizen" is not defined anywhere within the text of the Constitution and that the Constitution makes use of the phrase "citizen" and "natural born citizen," Supreme Court Decisions from United States v. Wong Kim Ark to the present have considered the distinction to be between natural-born and naturalized citizenship. [My note: That case reviewing those distinctions did not confer natural born citizenship status on Wong Kim Ark.]
Chester Arthur (born of an American mother and Irish father, purported birthplace of Canada) was sworn in as President, however his status as a "Natural born citizen" was challenged because he was born with British citizenship[22] (therefore not jus sanguinis) and it is contended, on foreign soil (therefore not jus soli). Some argue that those born abroad to U.S. citizens are not eligible to ascend to the Presidency (not jus soli), since an act of the United States Congress such as the Naturalization Act may not overrule the Constitution (see "Natural born citizen" as presidential qualification).[23] Presidential candidates George W. Romney (born in Mexico), Barry Goldwater and John McCain (born in U.S. territories), were never seriously challenged on the basis of their "natural born" citizenship, but no candidate falling under this classification has ever actually become President. [My note: Nor has Obama become a valid President or a valid Presidential candidate for 2012 either if not a natural born citizen.]
Expeditious naturalization of children
Effective April 1, 1995, a child born outside the U.S. to a U.S. citizen parent, if not already a citizen by birth because the parent does not meet the residency requirement (see above), may qualify for expeditious naturalization based on the physical presence of the child's grandparent in the U.S. In general the grandparent should have spent five years in the U.S., at least two of which were after the age of 14.
The process of naturalization, including the oath of allegiance, must be completed before the child's 18th birthday. It is not necessary for the child to be admitted to the U.S. as a lawful permanent resident.[24]
Either the citizenship verifications for Mitt Romney's father can be found to be in proper order, or he can try investigating the possibilty that his grandparents might actually be orphaned children of U.S. citizens from the Mountain Meadows Massacre who were taken into the homes of the Utah locals before the Romney and Pratt sides of his family moved to Mexico. Any questions?
Edited two heading-formats.
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"They're on our left, they're on our right, they're in front of us, they're behind us...they can't get away this time." -- Col. Puller, USMC