March 01, 2006

Memo From Mexico, By Allan Wall

Your Fellow Citizen—Thalia!

We now have a new American citizen—Thalia.

In case you didn't know, Thalía (Ariadna Thalía Sodi) is a Mexican pop singer and telenovela actress. She has sung in Spanish, English and other languages. Besides being a mega-star in Mexico, she has fans in Europe and the Far East.

For more information about Thalía, see this Time piece, her bio here, biography and discography here, and her website here.

Eight years ago, Thalia migrated to the United States, and five years ago, in St. Patrick's Cathedral, NYC, she married Tommy Mottola, former CEO of Sony music. That makes her Mottola’s third wife, the second being another singer, Mariah Carey. (Does that mean that being Mrs. Mottola is now work that no American woman will do?)

Besides singing and acting, Thalia has more recently branched off into business, promoting her own lines of sunglasses, jewelry, clothing (available at K-Mart), perfume and candy (available through Hershey's).

And, just last month Thalia took the plunge and became an American citizen, like you and me. That's right, she took the oath of citizenship in New York City in January.

Congratulations, Thalia!

The first article I saw about Thalia's new citizenship contained this interesting fact:

"At the moment, the singer has not clarified whether she will only take one citizenship or opt not to abandon the Mexican [citizenship]. [Thalia es ciudadana de EU, El Siglo de Torreón, January 11, 2006]

So who gave her that option?

The citizenship(s) question soon became clearer. Thalia herself made a statement clarifying it:

"This morning I acquired United States citizenship. Nevertheless, under the laws of my country, Mexico, I can also have Mexican citizenship. I have been a resident of the United States for 8 years and I have been married to my husband Tommy Mottola for the last 5 of them. Just like some of my Latino friends such as Salma Hayek, who is just as Mexican as I, and Gloria and Emilio Estefan, among others, I feel that this step will give me the opportunity to contribute to and support even more the Latin community in the United States. I am of Mexican nationality, and I will always be a proud Mexican in heart and soul." ("Esta mañana adquirí la ciudadanía de los Estados Unidos, sin embargo bajo las leyes de mi país, México, también podré tener la ciudadanía Mexicana. He sido residente de los Estados Unidos por 8 años y he estado casada con mi esposo Tommy Mottola durante los últimos 5 de éstos. Al igual que algunos amigos latinos como Salma Hayek, también mexicana como yo, y Gloria y Emilio Estefan, entre otros, siento que este paso me dará la oportunidad de aportar y apoyar todavía mas a la comunidad Latina en los Estados Unidos. Soy de nacionalidad mexicana, y siempre seré una orgullosa mexicana de alma y corazón", explica. [Thalia consigue la nacionalidad estadounidense, pero conserverá la mexicana, By Tatiana Gonzalez, January 25th, 2006, los40.com])

So there you go. Yes, Thalía became an American citizen. But she publicly announces that she will retain her Mexican citizenship.

And she still calls Mexico "my country."

So how do those words square with the oath of allegiance she took when she became a citizen?

When she became a U.S. citizen, here is what she swore:

"I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God."

In other words, when she became a U.S. citizen, Thalia swore that she was renouncing her Mexican citizenship.

She also swore that she was becoming a U.S. citizen "without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion."

Then she turns right around and says publicly that she is retaining her Mexican citizenship—and that Mexico is her country.

What's going on here?

In a country in which citizenship was taken seriously, this kind of shenanigan would not be tolerated. Thalia would immediately be stripped of her citizenship and prosecuted for fraud.

That would be, though, a country that takes citizenship seriously.

Not, obviously, our country.