text: WASHINGTON -- Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann has requested withdrawal of her Swiss citizenship after news that she and her children had recently applied for Swiss papers caused a stir.Referring to the Swiss citizenship as an “automatic” designation conferred upon her when she married her husband, Marcus Bachmann, the son of Swiss immigrants, Bachmann said she was withdrawing the citizenship to make clear her allegiance to the U.S.“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,” Bachmann said in a statement. “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% committed to our United States Constitution and the United States of America," the statement continued. "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."The former Republican presidential candidate who has often criticized President Obama for his “socialist” policies, had seemed the most unlikely American politician to have dual citizenship with a European country that is ruled in part by the Social Democratic Party The statement also said that “under Swiss law, Bachmann automatically received dual citizenship when she married her husband, a dual American and Swiss citizen, in 1978.”But that contradicts earlier statements by Bachmann and her spokeswoman, Becky Rogness, who said the Bachmann family had sought the citizenship."Congresswoman Bachmann's husband is of Swiss descent so she has been eligible for dual citizenship since they got married in 1978," Rogness said. "However, recently some of their children wanted to exercise their eligibility for dual citizenship so they went through the process as a family."Bachmann had initially tried to downplay the citizenship, calling it a “non-story” and saying the family had “just recently updated our documents.”kim.geiger@latimes.com ||||| Bachmann moves to withdraw Swiss citizenship 
   
   Posted at 2:37 PM on May 10, 2012 by Mark Zdechlik (13 Comments) 
   
   Filed under: Campaign 2008: MN Legislature, Michele Bachmann 
   
   
   
   Republican Congresswoman Michele Bachmann is no longer interested in having dual US-Swiss citizenship. 
   
   Two days after a Swiss TV news crew broke the story that Bachmann sought in February to have her Swiss citizenship registered by Swiss authorities, Bachmann issued the following statement: 
   
   "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." 
   
   Yesterday Bachmann's DFL challenger Jim Graves called news that Bachmann had sought to register her Swiss citizen a "distraction." Graves also noted in a news release that he and his family were "proud to be Americans." 
   
   
   
   Comments (13) 
   
   Could this be that her security clearance might be in jeopardy due to her dual citizenship, or just that fact that this makes her look like she's not a "Real 'Merkin??" 
   
   Go back to Switzerland, commie! Your kind ain't welcome in the USA! 
   
   Members of Congress aren't actually subject to the rules on "foreign preference" that apply to federal employees and contractors (or congressional staffers) seeking a formal security clearance -- they just have to swear an oath promising not to reveal national secrets. (This disparity was raised a few years ago, during the Randy 'Duke' Cunningham trial.) 
   
   Still, you can't imagine it sitting comfortably with Bachmann's membership on the House Intelligence Committee. Her statement yesterday used language that implied an attempt to talk her way out of the problem; my guess is that it wasn't sufficient for her colleagues and the intelligence agencies, and once again raises questions about her judgement. 
   
   She was probably just confused and meant to become a citizen of Sweden. Or Swaziland. 
   
   Many people find benefits from dual citizenship and having it doesn't make them any less American. It might have given her more access to travel internationally (if she wished to go someplace that didn't welcome U.S. citizens, but did welcome Swiss). Once again, the press has taken something Michele has done and blown it entirely out of promotion. 
   
   How could she not know that the USA does not acknowledge dual citizenship? 
   
   Flip flop. :) 
   
   It is possible to have US citizenship along with citizenship in another country, methods are usually automatic and can include marrying a foreign national, which is the case with Bachmann. IIRC some of her children were interested in Swiss citizenship, her husband's home country. One can also become a dual national by being born in a country that automatically grants citizenship to those born in the country. This happens more often to children of foreign nationals born in the US, but could also happen to US parents in Canada on vacation. 
   
   However, swearing an oath of allegiance to a country in a context similar to the way an immigrant becoming a US citizen, will cause one to give up their US citizenship. Then again, this is true of the reverse as well. After taking the required classes and tests and then swearing an oath of allegiance and becoming a US citizen, one implicitly renouncing any citizenship they may have previously held. 
   
   (My terminology may be a bit off in places.) 
   
   So obtaining citizenship in six countries might sound like a fun challenge, but would actually be difficult/impossible. In any case, the State Department recommends against holding dual citizenship for various reasons. 
   
   Oops, looks like she found out the government subsidy for foster kids is actually lower in socialist Switzerland. 
   
   Who cares? What's the big deal. Does it really make any difference? She's a US Citizen, lives in the US so again who cares? 
   
   
   
   There is still hope. Remember when she was running for president. She is from Iowa ! Minnesota was never mentioned. Go and take some of your husbands business government money with you. 
   
   Cliff said: "Who cares? What's the big deal." 
   
   The issue isn't really about what Bachmann did. It's about her constant questioning of Democrats' loyalty to this country and the way she harped on President Obama's birth certificate for years after the matter was settled, the questioning of his loyalty, the insinuations that he was really a Muslim, etc., etc. 
   
   It's the sheer hypocrisy, political opportunism and gamesmanship that rankles. Her tactics of total nuclear war on her opponents, her questioning of their very loyalty to this country that's the issue. 
   
   This exposes the sham of her stance. She obviously doesn't believe a word of any of the nonsense she's been spouting about the president for the last four years, because she turned around and voluntarily did something that puts her loyalty to the county under question, whereas all the president did was be born as an American citizen from an American mother and raised under circumstances completely out of his control. 
   
   She just figured out Switzerland isn't in the U.S.A.
target: – If you were concerned that Michele Bachmann's Swiss citizenship meant she'd given up on America, worry no longer: She's getting rid of it. "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," she said in a statement, according to Minnesota Public Radio. "I took this action because I want to make it perfectly clear: I was born in America and I am a proud American citizen." Bachmann hopes to put an end to the story that surfaced earlier this week. At the time, her spokeswoman described the situation this way, notes the LA Times: "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." Her opponent in November, Jim Graves of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor party, has called the Swiss story a "distraction." He has confirmed that he and his family are also "proud to be Americans."