Media

NBC Issues Major Correction On Story About Citizenship For Military Children Abroad

Staff Sgt. Keith Fidler kisses his wife Cynthia, as their son Kolin looks on, during a homecoming ceremony in New York, April 8, 2011 for the New York Army National Guard's 442nd Military Police Company's return from Iraq. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
Virginia Kruta Associate Editor
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After initially reporting that new guidelines could potentially deny “birthright citizenship” to the children of American military members abroad, NBC followed up with a major correction.

Initial reports on the new policy from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services focused almost entirely on one line from the guidance, namely that the Department of Homeland Security “no longer considers children of U.S. government employees and U.S. armed forces members residing outside the United States as ‘residing in the United States’ for purposes of acquiring citizenship.”

After a more careful reading of the policy, however, NBC’s Ken Dilanian offered a correction noting that the policy would apply to children adopted by American military and government employees overseas. (RELATED: Trump Lawyer Demands MSNBC ‘Immediately’ Retract Report That Russians Backed Trump Loans)

Snopes reported that an additional correction from NBC noted that the policy would also apply to children of non-citizens who later became naturalized.

The new rules apply to children who were not born as citizens — such as those who were born to non-citizens and later adopted by U.S. citizens serving abroad, or in cases where parents who were not citizens at the time of the child’s birth but were later naturalized.

Even former Vice President Joe Biden jumped on the initial reporting, calling the move “reprehensible and cruel.”

USCIS acting Director Ken Cuccinelli also gave a statement clarifying the impact of the policy, noting that even those children who were affected still had a legal path to citizenship — it just required different paperwork.