Cut the Chains Act Brief intent, what it does, and how it would work INTENT, IN BRIEF The bill’s intent is that United States citizenship is not a prize for being present here without permanent status. If a child is born in this country on or after January 1, 1965, and neither parent was a U.S. citizen, a U.S. national, or a lawful permanent resident at that birth, that birth is not treated as a grant of citizenship. Every green card, visa, naturalization, and later citizenship that was stacked on that claim parents the child later sponsored, then grandparents, siblings, and whoever came in because of them is treated as built on a void foundation and can be canceled. It is written to spare two groups: people born here before 1965, and people who had at least one citizen or green-card parent at birth. It is also written so the government does not make every American born after 1964 prove their parents’ papers. Cases start from federal immigration files the government already has. Everyone else at the birth counts: illegal presence, overstays, tourists, students, guest workers, and other visa holders. The child of that birth is a “covered person.” A later passport, Social Security number, enlistment, or voter registration does not convert the birth into citizenship. WHAT THE BILL IS SUPPOSED TO DO 1. Name the first break in the line A “covered birth” is a U.S. birth on or after January 1, 1965, unless at that moment at least one parent was: a citizen or national of the United States, or a lawful permanent resident (including conditional residence) who was actually holding that status and living here. 2. Cut the chain that grew from that birth A “derivative beneficiary” is anyone whose status had a material basis in: the child’s claimed citizenship, a petition or affidavit filed by that child, a petition filed by someone who already got status that way, citizenship passed through that child, or any later green card or citizenship that would not have been granted but for that birth or those benefits. That is parents the child petitioned at 21, then grandparents and aunts and uncles those parents later petitioned, then people who rode those visas, then whoever came in later only because that stack existed. 3. Keep status that never used the child If someone got a green card or citizenship on a separate ground work, a marriage that did not use the covered person, a visa that did not depend on that birth the Secretary can leave that status in place, in writing. A covered person who later naturalized only counts as “independent” if every requirement of that naturalization could have been met without treating the birth as citizenship. 4. Make agencies wait for a real case The statute says the birth never made a citizen. In practice, passports stay valid, birth certificates still work as they do now, and nobody is removed under this Act until Homeland Security has opened a case, given notice, and issued a final order against that person. HOW IT WOULD WORK IN PRACTICE Step 1 Find a federal file. DHS looks at records it already holds: an I-130 filed by a U.S.-born child for a parent; a visa, I-94, or admission record showing the parent was a tourist, student, or illegal at the birth; a removal or unlawful-presence file; a later naturalization file that shows the parent was not a green-card holder when the child was born. State or hospital birth records may be used only to confirm names after that federal file exists. The Act forbids a mass demand that everyone born here after 1964 prove their parents’ status. Step 2 Open a case. A case starts only if those records support a reasonable belief that the birth was covered, or that the person is a derivative beneficiary. Opening the case is what freezes that person’s pending petitions. Step 3 Notice. The person gets written notice. The notice lists the federal records DHS is using and warns that a final order means passports and certificates must be surrendered. Step 4 Sixty days to rebut. Two different proofs, depending on who they are: Alleged covered person (the U.S.-born child): presumed covered unless they prove, by clear and convincing evidence, that a parent was a citizen, national, or LPR living here in that status at birth. Alleged only as a derivative (parent, grandparent, uncle): not under that birth presumption. They win by showing their green card or citizenship did not depend on the covered person. If the case closes without a final order, any petition denied only because the case was opened is reopened and adjudicated. Step 5 Final order. If they lose or do not answer, DHS issues an order that:declares the person an alien, cancels citizenship recognition and immigration status as the Act provides, and directs surrender of passports and certificates. That order is the switch. Until it issues, federal officers do not treat that person as an alien under this Act. Step 6 What the order does to that person. After the order: They are treated as never having gotten citizenship from that birth. Passports, passport cards, certificates of citizenship or naturalization, and Consular Reports of Birth Abroad issued on that claim are canceled. A state birth certificate, by itself, is no longer accepted by federal officers as proof of U.S. citizenship for that person. Naturalization, LPR status, immigrant visas, adjustment, cancellation of removal, parole, waivers, and similar benefits that depended on the chain are revoked and treated as void from the date they were granted. Approved family petitions that used the claimed citizenship are revoked. The person is inadmissible and deportable and can be put in removal proceedings. Military service, voting, a job, or a Social Security number that treated them as a citizen does not save the status. Those acts are disregarded only after the order. Step 7 Walk the chain. An order against the U.S.-born child does not, by itself, strip the parent. It is a legal basis for DHS to open a separate case against each derivative beneficiary of that child. Each adult in the stack gets their own notice and their own chance to show an independent ground. That is how grandparents, aunts, uncles, and later riders get reached without a single blanket order against a whole surname. Step 8 Tell the rest of the government. Each final order goes to State (passports), Social Security, the Attorney General, and, if the person lives in a state, the chief election official and the vital-records office. The Act notifies the state. It does not rewrite state driver’s-license or voter law. WHO IS OUT OF THE ACT Born in the United States before January 1, 1965. Proves that at birth at least one parent was a citizen, national, or LPR residing here in that status. Got citizenship at birth abroad or by descent under INA 301(c), (d), (e), (g), or (h) through a parent who was not a covered person. Holds a status the Secretary finds, in writing, was earned on a ground that never used the covered person. Adoption after birth does not create a “parent” who can save a covered birth. An unidentified father does not save it either. TIMING The Act takes effect on enactment and is retroactive in reach: it applies to covered births and derivative benefits whether they happened before or after that date. Regulations are due in 180 days. If a court strikes one piece, the rest is written to stand.