Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, a lot has been said here almost in disagreement but yet speaking about statutory citizenship and constitutional citizenship. Make no mistake about it, I have no doubt that my citizenship is different than the one my son who was born in the Bronx has. I do not have a doubt about that. I do not have to be a constitutional lawyer to know that I became a citizen on the island of Puerto Rico when I was born there, because it was a law in 1917 that said so. That law was passed by Congress. The Constitution is not amended by Congress. There is a whole process to change that. And so I am clear on the fact that my son's citizenship is one that is protected by the Constitution of the United States and if I am not mistaken, there are only a few ways in which he can lose that citizenship. One, for instance, he could be found guilty of treason, but it has to be some extreme circumstance by which he would lose that citizenship. But I have no doubt that this Congress can pass a law to take away from me my citizenship and the citizenship of the gentleman from Puerto Rico (Mr. Romero-Barcelo), the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Velazquez), and the people who live on the island of Puerto Rico. Would they do it? Probably not. Would a court uphold it? Possibly not. Can they do it? Absolutely.”