# Can an American citizen have his/her travel privileges reviewed? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 7, 2017, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-american-citizen-have-his-her-travel-privileges-reviewed/781610 "2017-03-07T10:39:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-american-citizen-have-his-her-travel-privileges-reviewed/781610/1 "2017-03-07T10:39:54Z")
If they haven’t committed a crime or are not suspected of one? [Here’s the story.](http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/322564-khan-speech-in-canada-cancelled-amid-questions) > [@](#): > > Gold Star father and outspoken President Trump critic Khizr Khan on Monday canceled a planned speech in Canada as questions about the circumstances swirled. > > “Late Sunday evening Khizr Khan, an American citizen for over 30 years, was notified that his travel privileges are being reviewed." As a law-abiding (I’ve heard nothing to the contrary) American citizen of long-standing how is it possible that the government could ‘review his travel privileges’? Isn’t unrestricted travel a right rather than a privilege in the US? This smacks of Russia and other authoritarian states. I need a little enlightenment on US law here (I’m English.) ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-american-citizen-have-his-her-travel-privileges-reviewed/781610/2 "2017-03-07T10:53:14Z")
The statement issued by the agency doesn’t really make much sense, and Mr. Khan [appears to have chosen not to clarify it:](http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/khizr-khan-talk-toronto-cancelled-travel-restriction-a7615171.html) > [@](#): > > The New York Daily News quoted a State Department official as saying there was no US State Department procedure for reviewing “travel privileges” and that anyone with a valid US passport can enter and leave the US. > > Rather, the official said that it was up to other countries, such as Canada, to admit US citizens or not. The Canadian Foreign Ministry has yet to comment. > > When The Independent connected Mr Khan by email, he replied: “Thank you. I have no comments.” Mr Ramsay also failed to respond to inquiries. _Passports_ are a privilege rather than a right, but even then they aren’t “reviewed” like that. ---
**Author:** ![femmejean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/0ea827/32.png) [@femmejean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/femmejean)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-american-citizen-have-his-her-travel-privileges-reviewed/781610/3 "2017-03-07T10:59:24Z")
Pretty sure after September 11th along with the ‘War on Terror’, Western government have exclusive power to revoke passports at anytime. I’m sure you know that the UK has now taken measures to prevent individuals from leaving the country **permanently** by refusing them passports. Even white Britons convicted of terrorism can be made stateless. So…I don’t really think it’s in the range of impossibility that the State Department can do anything to prevent travel ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-american-citizen-have-his-her-travel-privileges-reviewed/781610/4 "2017-03-07T11:13:22Z")
> [@femmejean](#): > > Pretty sure after September 11th along with the ‘War on Terror’, Western government have exclusive power to revoke passports at anytime. They’ve always had that power. It’s inherent in the nature of a passport. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-american-citizen-have-his-her-travel-privileges-reviewed/781610/5 "2017-03-07T11:19:21Z")
[Denaturalisation](http://immigration.findlaw.com/citizenship/can-your-u-s-citizenship-be-revoked-.html)is also an option, one I am absolutely certain Donald Trump might want to use against him. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-american-citizen-have-his-her-travel-privileges-reviewed/781610/6 "2017-03-07T11:25:14Z")
The US revoked passports in the McCarthy era. The current position in the UK appears to be: [https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/the-issuing-withdrawal-or-refusal-of-passports](https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/the-issuing-withdrawal-or-refusal-of-passports) ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-american-citizen-have-his-her-travel-privileges-reviewed/781610/7 "2017-03-07T11:30:00Z")
So, to US Lawyer Dopers, what exactly might be legally done or considered to be done to Khizar Khan that he might want to avoid travelling. Cancel Passport? Denaturalisation? All expenses paid trip to Gitmo? ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-american-citizen-have-his-her-travel-privileges-reviewed/781610/8 "2017-03-07T11:31:46Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > [Denaturalisation](http://immigration.findlaw.com/citizenship/can-your-u-s-citizenship-be-revoked-.html)is also an option, one I am absolutely certain Donald Trump might want to use against him. Denaturalization is only available in cases of immigration fraud or certain corner cases like a dishonorable discharge from the military. It can’t be done by executive order, and requires going through a civil process in a federal district court with a rather strong burden of proof. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-american-citizen-have-his-her-travel-privileges-reviewed/781610/9 "2017-03-07T11:34:01Z")
> [@femmejean](#): > > Even white Britons convicted of terrorism can be made stateless. Cite? Since stateless persons are a result disfavored in international law, I’m interested about the UK law that produces this result. I’m no expert on UK law. > [@](#): > > So…I don’t really think it’s in the range of impossibility that the State Department can do anything to prevent travel I’m not aware aware of any provision of law the State Department (22 US Code § 211a) can invoke to prevent travel for a given individual who is not charged with (or convicted of) a crime, alleged to have permitted his passport to be altered or misused, or alleged to be in arrears in child support payments. See 22 CFR § 51.60 _et seq_. This being General Questions, the home of factual answers, can you explain with reference to any law or code what specific provisions of the law inform your conclusion? ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-american-citizen-have-his-her-travel-privileges-reviewed/781610/10 "2017-03-07T11:52:24Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Cite? Since stateless persons are a result disfavored in international law, I’m interested about the UK law that produces this result. I’m no expert on UK law. Here is a[NY Times Article](https://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/10/world/europe/britains-power-to-disown-its-citizens-raises-questions.html?_r=0&module=ArrowsNav&contentCollection=Europe&action=keypress®ion=FixedLeft&pgtype=article) The relevant Statute is[Ss 40 of the British Nationality Act 1981](http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1981/61/section/40). Specifically > [@](#): > > (2) The Secretary of State may by order deprive a person of a citizenship status if the Secretary of State is satisfied that deprivation is conducive to the public good… > (4) The Secretary of State may not make an order under subsection (2) if he is satisfied that the order would make a person stateless… > (4A) But that does not prevent the Secretary of State from making an order under subsection (2) to deprive a person of a citizenship status if— > (a)the citizenship status results from the person’s naturalisation, > (b)the Secretary of State is satisfied that the deprivation is conducive to the public good because the person, while having that citizenship status, has conducted him or herself in a manner which is seriously prejudicial to the vital interests of the United Kingdom, any of the Islands, or any British overseas territory, and > (c)the Secretary of State has reasonable grounds for believing that the person is able, under the law of a country or territory outside the United Kingdom, to become a national of such a country or territory.] ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-american-citizen-have-his-her-travel-privileges-reviewed/781610/11 "2017-03-07T12:02:24Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > So, to US Lawyer Dopers, what exactly might be legally done or considered to be done to Khizar Khan that he might want to avoid travelling. > > Cancel Passport? Denaturalisation? All expenses paid trip to Gitmo? It depends – even a naturalization of thirty years’ standing may be revoked if obtained by fraud. For example, a naturalized citizen whose path to citizenship was marriage to a US citizen may be denaturalized if it’s shown that the marriage was a sham. A number of people had backgrounds similar to Martin Bartesch, who lost his naturalized US citizenship in 1987 after information came to light that during World War II, he had been a member of the Waffen-SS, the armed Nazi party service that augmented the Wehrmacht, and in that capacity he had killed at least one prisoner while serving as a guard. Bartesch did not disclose this information when he applied for citizenship. In similar manner, Fawaz Damrah was convicted of lying to obtain citizenship, in violation of 18 US Code § 1425 by making false statements in a citizenship application and interview, concealing his association with Afghan Refugee Services, the Islamic Committee for Palestine and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. His citizenship was revoked (see _US v. Damrah_, 412 F. 3d 618 (6th Cir. 2005). If Mr. Khan’s past is free of similar deceptions, I don’t see any path to his involuntary loss of citizenship. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-american-citizen-have-his-her-travel-privileges-reviewed/781610/12 "2017-03-07T12:04:27Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > Here is a[NY Times Article](https://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/10/world/europe/britains-power-to-disown-its-citizens-raises-questions.html?_r=0&module=ArrowsNav&contentCollection=Europe&action=keypress®ion=FixedLeft&pgtype=article) > > The relevant Statute is[Ss 40 of the British Nationality Act 1981](http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1981/61/section/40). > > Specifically Right – section 4(c) avoids the issue of statelessness – it requires a finding that the person has a claim to citizenship elsewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-american-citizen-have-his-her-travel-privileges-reviewed/781610/13 "2017-03-07T13:06:11Z")
During the McCarthy era, Linus Pauling had his passport revoked. I am unaware what process was involved, if any. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-american-citizen-have-his-her-travel-privileges-reviewed/781610/14 "2017-03-07T13:50:46Z")
I don’t think this is in any way about the law/laws. This is about the chaos that’s being created with all border services. Instant travel bans cannot but create chaos. And with that, people who should not be, find themselves, detained, interrogated and refused. Rightly or wrongly. Barely a day goes by without such a tale on the news. Same with ICE, do they know the rules they are supposed to abide by? With an instant roll out it seems sure to lead to chaos as well. If you sow enough chaos into everything people very soon do not expect the rule of law to help them any more. This man very likely feels, rightly or wrongly, should he leave the country, he could easily be refused reentry. (They very wrongly refused a born Canadian, w passport just yesterday telling her she had to get a visa! Her skin was brown, she is descendent of immigrants!) ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-american-citizen-have-his-her-travel-privileges-reviewed/781610/15 "2017-03-07T14:30:01Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > During the McCarthy era, Linus Pauling had his passport revoked. I am unaware what process was involved, if any. Not exactly. His request to renew his passport was denied. He had submitted his renewal request in anticipation of travel to the UK for a conference beginning May 1, 1952. The State Department denied the request based on the authority then granted by the Subversive Activities Control Act of 1950, also called the McCarren Act as its principal proponent had been Senator Pat McCarren (D-Nevada). Pauling’s views had led to his being accused of being a member of the Communist Party, which the act outlawed. After appealing the decision and swearing an oath that he was not a Communist, the State Department reversed its decision and issued him a passport. Portions of the McCarren Act were found unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in _Albertson v. Subversive Activities Control Board_ in 1965 and _US v Robel_ in 1967. The Non-Detention Act of 1971 legislatively repealed other sections. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-american-citizen-have-his-her-travel-privileges-reviewed/781610/16 "2017-03-07T16:15:01Z")
The no-fly list is still going strong, as far as I know. Plenty of US citizens on it. There is no due process and no recourse if you find yourself on it (and they won’t tell you, you just won’t get to fly). That’s not a ban on travel, per se, but it is a ban on the most useful and significant form of long distance travel. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-american-citizen-have-his-her-travel-privileges-reviewed/781610/17 "2017-03-07T16:20:35Z")
There is a [redress system](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traveler_Redress_Inquiry_Program) for the no-fly list, which people have used successfully to get removed. Like a lot of this type of thing, it moves at the speed of bureaucracy. Of course, neither citizenship nor possession of a passport entitles anyone to board an airplane. They’re separate issues. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-american-citizen-have-his-her-travel-privileges-reviewed/781610/18 "2017-03-07T16:27:02Z")
Is it correct that some European countries won’t let you travel abroad via plane if you have unpaid taxes? ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-american-citizen-have-his-her-travel-privileges-reviewed/781610/19 "2017-03-07T18:44:10Z")
In Ontario, Canada, failure to pay child and/or spousal support can lead to loss of passport and loss of driver’s licence, or in extreme cases, jail. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-american-citizen-have-his-her-travel-privileges-reviewed/781610/20 "2017-03-07T19:02:23Z")
Getting back to the OP the issue I think is: [ul] [li]Can a US citizen be denied re-entry back into the US (assuming they hold a valid passport)?[/li][li]Is the issue of the “review” a Canadian issue?[/li][li]If the review is an American issue, who/what is prompting this, and why?[/li][/ul] [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-american-citizen-have-his-her-travel-privileges-reviewed/781610.md?page=2)