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On March 19, 2012, U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann became a subject of the European nation Switzerland and now holds dual U.S.-Swiss nationality, as reported below in Politico.

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Michele Bachmann Claims Swiss Citizenship

By Tim Mak
POLITICO.com Logo - Click to return to home page
May 8, 2012

Rep. Michele Bachmann is now officially a Swiss miss.

Bachmann (R-Minn.) recently became a citizen of Switzerland, making her eligible to run for office in the tiny European nation, according to a Swiss TV report Tuesday.

Arthur Honegger, a reporter for public broadcaster Schweizer Fernsehen, told POLITICO the Swiss consulate in Chicago has confirmed that the former Republican presidential candidate became a citizen March 19 [2012]. …

Marcus Bachmann, the congresswoman’s husband since 1978, reportedly was eligible for Swiss citizenship due to his parents’ nationality — but only registered it with the Swiss government Feb. 15. Once the process was finalized on March 19, Michele automatically became a citizen as well, according to Honegger.

Bachmann’s three youngest children are also now Swiss citizens, and her two older children are eligible to apply for a fast-track citizenship process, according to an email from the consulate provided and translated by Honegger.

Bachmann’s office confirmed that the congresswoman had received Swiss citizenship, and attributed the decision to her children.

“Congresswoman Bachmann’s husband is of Swiss descent, so she has been eligible for dual-citizenship since they got married in 1978. However, recently some of their children wanted to exercise their eligibility for dual-citizenship so they went through the process as a family,” said Bachmann spokesperson Becky Rogness.

The Minnesota congresswoman was interviewed by Swiss national public television in D.C. on Tuesday while with a group of Swiss parliamentarians.

“My husband is a 100 percent Swiss, and his parents were raised in Switzerland, they were married there, they came to the United States, they bought a farm in Wisconsin and raised their three sons there,” said Bachmann. …

Each Swiss citizen belongs specifically to a canton, and Bachmann’s is the canton of Thurgau in Northeast Switzerland. …

Full story

Bachmann Responds to Dual Citizenship Inquiries

Washington, May 9 — Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (MN-06) issued the following statement about her dual citizenship with Switzerland:

“This is a non-story. I automatically became a dual citizen of the United States and Switzerland in 1978 when I married my husband, Marcus. Marcus is a dual American and Swiss citizen because he is the son of Swiss immigrants. As a family, we just recently updated our documents.

“I am proud of my husband, Marcus, the love of my life, and his Swiss heritage. Even though I have been a dual citizen since I was married in 1978, I have never exercised any rights of that citizenship. Rather, I have always pledged allegiance to our one nation under God, the United States of America. We live in the greatest nation humankind has ever known and I am proud to be an American.”

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Note: Bachmann’s statement is at odds both with reports that, although eligible for Swiss citizenship due to her husband’s parents’ nationality, Bachmann only became a Swiss national after the Bachmanns registered their heritage with the Swiss government, and the explanation offered by her office that “some of their children wanted to exercise their eligibility for dual-citizenship so they went through the process as a family.” It appears Bachmann actively had to “opt in” to acquire Swiss citizenship.

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Dual Citizenship is Treason

Submitted by James_Madison_Lives

April 30, 2011

I am against dual citizenship of any kind. When you benefit from the blood spilled by patriots in the past, the least which can be requested of you is undivided allegiance. …

The fact that we are now being badly betrayed by our leaders and threatened by domestic traitors to the Constitution is another matter. …

One small step is to outlaw what President Teddy Roosevelt called “a self-evident absurdity.”

Roosevelt said  “We must unsparingly condemn any man who holds any other allegiance.”

For most of the country’s history, dual citizenship was considered the equivalent of political bigamy. It is a recent development, dating from 1967, when the Supreme Court struck down a law that forced people to relinquish their American citizenship if they acquired another citizenship.

The absurdity gets worse. It so happens some people are subject to relinquishing dual citizenships, as was revealed in the case of Shamai Kedem Leibowitz, an FBI translator with a top secret security clearance. …

In an article on Leibowitz, Politico noted:

“The FBI page page on contract linguists says: ‘Applicants for the FBI Contract Linguist position must meet all of the following requirements: United States citizenship; Willingness to renounce dual citizenship. … Ability to meet all FBI Employment Requirements, pass an FBI Background Investigation, and receive a Top Secret Security Clearance …'” …

The big question is, why are low-level employees subject to relinquishing their dual citizenship, but not U.S. Congressmen like former Representative Rahm Emanuel, later White House Chief of Staff, or those at the highest levels of an administration’s foreign policy apparatus like Douglas Feith, Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz, or Dov Zakheim? …

The idea of liberty dictates that any human being can choose to be a citizen of any country for which he or she qualifies.  That’s his business. But any country could suddenly be at war with any other country. That is realpolitik. For the privilege of being a citizen of this great country, you must choose.

Full story

LATE UPDATE

Michele Bachmann Drops Swiss Citizenship, Says She’s ‘A Proud American’

 
May 10, 2012

Michele Bachmann doesn’t want to be Swiss after all.

On Tuesday, Swiss national television reported that Bachmann, a Republican U.S. representative from Minnesota and former GOP presidential candidate, had recently become a citizen of Switzerland, a landlocked European country surrounded by Italy, France and Germany.

By Thursday, after media reports about her dual citizenship, Bachmann said she had sent the Swiss consulate a letter to withdraw her citizenship. She said she wanted to be clear that she was “100 percent committed to our United States Constitution and the United States of America.”

She was eligible for citizenship because Marcus Bachmann, her husband of 34 years, was born to Swiss immigrants who moved to Wisconsin, POLITICO reported. Bachmann’s office said the Bachmann children wanted dual citizenship and so the family decided to go through the process together, according to Minnesota Public Radio. They officially became Swiss citizens in March. …

The Bachmanns visit Switzerland often, she added, always returning home with bags of the country’s well-known chocolate.

But on Thursday, Bachmann released a statement saying she had sent a letter to the Swiss Consulate requesting to withdraw her Swiss citizenship.

“I took this action because I want to make it perfectly clear: I was born in America and I am a proud American citizen,” she said. “I am proud of my allegiance to the greatest nation the world has ever known.”

The Swiss Embassy in Washington confirmed that the Swiss Consulate in Chicago had received Bachmann’s e-mail asking that her Swiss citizenship be withdrawn.

Full story

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Twitter

Bachmann Statement on Withdrawal of Dual Swiss Citizenship

Washington, May 10 — Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (MN-06) issued the following statement today about her decision to withdraw her dual Swiss citizenship:

“Today I sent a letter to the Swiss Consulate requesting withdrawal of my dual Swiss citizenship, which was conferred upon me by operation of Swiss law when I married my husband in 1978. I took this action because I want to make it perfectly clear: I was born in America and I am a proud American citizen. I am, and always have been, 100 percent committed to our United States Constitution and the United States of America. As the daughter of an Air Force veteran, stepdaughter of an Army veteran and sister of a Navy veteran, I am proud of my allegiance to the greatest nation the world has ever known.” …

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5/14/2012 Update

Bachmann Hit by Conservative Blogs Over Swiss Citizenship


May 13, 2012

When word got out that Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., had filed for an acquired Swiss citizenship back on March 19, she got slammed with an icy avalanche of criticism from conservative blogs, reports Politico.com.

By Thursday of this past week, the former GOP presidential contender announced she was withdrawing her citizenship in a country her husband holds dual citizenship with.

Bachmann’s trumpeting of her new citizenship didn’t sit well with conservatives. Among her detractors was Mark Krikorian of the National Review.

“Dual citizenship isn’t simply a matter of convenience, a way to make travel easier or a sentimental tie to the Auld Sod,” Krikorian added in a piece headlined “Swiss Miss.” “It’s a formal declaration of divided allegiance, civic bigamy, if you will,” Krikorian wrote. …

[The] United States does discourage citizens, like Bachmann, from seeking and applying for dual citizenship and warns such citizens may lose their U.S. citizenship.

The State Department website states: “A person who acquires a foreign citizenship by applying for it may lose U.S. citizenship. In order to lose U.S. citizenship, the law requires that the person must apply for the foreign citizenship voluntarily, by free choice, and with the intention to give up U.S. citizenship.”…

A former Bachmann congressional staffer told Poltico.com: “She didn’t think there was anything wrong with holding or applying for Swiss citizenship while serving as a member of the U.S. Congress. She didn’t think it might be perceived as a conflict of interest as a candidate for president or for re-election to her House seat.”

Some detractors, however, went beyond calling for an end to any appearance of conflict of interest, casting the dual citizenship adventure as a stake through the political heart of Bachmann.

“How she thinks that she can sit in the Congress of the United States after swearing allegiance to the country of Switzerland is beyond my comprehension,” wrote conservative blogger Lori Stacy on Examiner.com. “Michele Bachmann needs to step down immediately and apologize profusely to all of our citizens and especially the residents of her district in Minnesota for carrying on this egregious offense of representing them since March 19 after becoming a citizen of a different country.”

Bachmann’s latest fiasco may mean a continued erosion of support she holds from patriotic tea party supporters.

Bachmann has already been criticized for raising millions of dollars nationally for her congressional seat, promising to remain a thorn in the Washington establishment. Instead of fulfilling that promise, Bachmann used millions of the funds she raised for a losing presidential bid many saw as an ego trip for her.

Full story

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Related reports on this site

Video

Michele Bachmann is a Swiss citizen (MSNBC “The Ed Show,” May 9, 2012) — Michele Bachmann claims she loves freedom and liberty, yet she filed papers to become a citizen of Switzerland. Ed Schultz tries to make sense of it. (02:05)

Bachmann’s ‘Anti-American’ Rant (Oct. 18, 2009)

The 50% American (July 15, 2008)





One Response to “Swiss Miss: Michele Bachmann’s Foreign Citizenship”
  1. Immelman for Congress » Blog Archive » Rep. Michele Bachmann’s Reelection Campaign for Congress Says:

    […] Swiss Miss: Michele Bachmann’s Foreign Citizenship (May 10, 2012) […]

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