The Dominican Republic was widely criticized last month for changing its nationality law to revoke the nationality of thousands of Dominicans of Haitian descent.
For many Americans, such an event can come as a shock. We in the US take our birthright citizenship for granted. Many Americans assume all countries automatically grant citizenship to anyone born in their territory. When I moved to Australia for a couple of years and told my friends I was thinking of having a baby, many of them said, "But your kid will be Australian!" They were quite shocked to find out this was not at all the case!
The ability of one country to revoke the citizenship of thousands of its nationals should be a matter of grave concern to everyone, for citizenship is the most basic right we have.
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