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2020 - Volume 3 - Number 1

Issues of Legitimacy for Children of Polygamous Marriage in US Immigration Practices

Kenneth I. Granle Jr. * kenneth.granle@mitchellhamline.edu * ORCID: 0000-0001-7250-1195
Mitchell Hamline School of Law, Saint Paul, UNITED STATES

Open Journal for Legal Studies, 2020, 3(1), 79-86 * https://doi.org/10.32591/coas.ojls.0301.06079g
Received: 31 March 2020 ▪ Accepted: 2 June 2020 ▪ Published Online: 18 July 2020

LICENCE: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

ARTICLE (Full Text - PDF)

ABSTRACT:
The government of the United States does not recognize the children of polygamous marriages abroad as legitimate, causing myriad issues for a significant number of immigrants seeking citizenship through derivation. The proposal put forth in this article suggests that the US government automatically recognize these children as legitimate and stop requiring them to provide further proof of their legitimacy. A review of case law in which questions of legitimacy have been answered by relying on a petitioner’s country of origin will show that the US government already accepts other foreign practices concerning marriage and children. Additionally, further issues surrounding polygamy, legitimation, and US immigration practices will be addressed.

KEY WORDS: immigration, polygamy, derivation of citizenship, legitimacy, US law.

CORRESPONDING AUTHOR:
Kenneth I. Granle Jr., Mitchell Hamline School of Law, Saint Paul, UNITED STATES. E-mail: kenneth.granle@mitchellhamline.edu.

REFERENCES:

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Maldonado, S. (2011). Illegitimate harm: Law, stigma, anddiscrimination against nonmarital children. Florida Law Review, 345-394.

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