America?

Tyler looked at the American flag on a peanut butter jar today and said, "Mom, I want to go to this country."
I said, "That's the American flag.  We are going to that country."
"But Mom, do they speak American there?" he asked.
"No, they speak English, just like us.  America is your country.  You're American."
"No, Mom.  I'm from Switzerland."
"You were born in Switzerland but both your parents are American so you are American too."
"Oh!"

How is it that my kid doesn't know his heritage?  I mean, we taught him the entire Star-Spangled Banner on the way to Paris last year and he loves hearing about the Revolutionary War.  We have been here too long.  Tyler was born in Switzerland and that is what he sees as his country.  He can't fathom that he is not Swiss.  There is no automatic citizenship for foreigners born here so Tyler is no more Swiss than any other American.  Furthermore, he can't understand how he is supposed to identify with a country where he has never lived, but only visited a few times.  The complexities of our situation here help me to better empathize with American immigrants.

On the other hand, people tend to think that we Americans are extremely harsh with immigrants.  Au contraire, the U.S. is one of the most generous countries in the world with immigrants.  The U.S. on a yearly basis generally accepts more immigrants as permanent residents than all other countries combined.   Moreover, the U.S. and Canada are the only two advanced economies that still recognize jus soli, which is the grant of citizenship solely by birth.  We definitely need to overhaul our immigration laws, but in doing so, maybe we should consider what many other European countries do -- offer more temporary permits but limit pathways to permanent citizenship.  However, then you risk ending up with kids like my kids -- children with no rights in the only country they have ever known.

That reminds me.  I need to get Thomas a U.S. passport quickly.  Otherwise, he is stateless. :)