Paul Opsommer Talks Michigan Sovereignty
26. Feb, 2009 
8 Comments
On Tuesday, 022409, Michigan State Representative Paul Opsommer was talking State Sovereignty and the 10th Amendment when he appeared as a guest on WTCM Radio in Traverse City, Michigan. Click the link below to hear the interview, approximately 15 minutes.
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Related to Federal Government intrusion in State’s rights, I would like to tell you about what happened to me in Michigan in November 2008. I must first tell you that I was born in Ontario, Canada in 1954, was brought to Michigan in 1956, and became a naturalized ‘derivitive’ minor under my mother’s naturalization in 1961. I was adopted by my mother’s new ‘American’ husband in 1957.
Which brings us back to November, 2008, when the Department of Homeland Security decided to ‘non-confirm’ my eligibility to work in the United States, under their E-Verify program. I was treated like an illegal alien and forced to spend long hours trying to defend my citizenship. I made an appointment to see an immigration officer at the demands of the Hispanic DHS agent I spoke with initially. Altho I could barely understand her, I kept asking questions until I had ascertained what she required of me, to keep my job. The non-confirmation specifically stated that any employer that allowed me to work under them, would be held in violation of the law until I could prove that I was authorized to work. So I went to Detroit, spoke with an immigration officer AND her supervisor, who were unable to help me in any way. I had already brought all the documentation required to prove my citizenship, so they made copies of it and told me to await their phone call. (which, by the way, has never happened) I was assured by the Washington DC office of Social Security that I was authorized and legal to work, but Homeland Security did not see it that way.
I made numerous trips to the local Social Security Administration Office, at the behest of DHS, where I was finally informed that my status was now – ‘alien authorized to work’. This came as quite a shock to me, to say the least. They wanted to see my birth certificate, but when presented to them, I was told that it would not be enough. They said they couldn’t understand how I had a Michigan birth certificate when I was born in Canada. I again explained how I had been adopted by an American citizen which then caused me to acquire the Michigan birth certificate. When shown my mother’s naturalization papers as well as the adoption papers, they did not recognize this as proof of my citizenship, either.
I had called and emailed numerous senators and representatives, as well as the governor of Michigan. Repeatedly I was told that either I had to go to someone else, or received no response at all. Ultimately there would be no help from any elected official. I did get a letter telling me to send hundreds of dollars to Washington DC and ask for a copy of my naturalization papers from one elected official. I guess he didn’t know that there are no copies of naturalization papers and that it is illegal to make copies (according to what is printed on the original).
So, after hours and hours of research, I stumbled on some information on naturalization. I copied the law down and took it to the local Social Security Administration Office – it said “Minors did not actually naturalize; they were automatically granted citizenship as a result of their parents’ naturalization. These citizens are called “derivatives,” because they derived citizenship through their parents.
To find proof of derivative status, you should research the parents’ records. Their Petitions for Naturalization will include the names of their minor children. That will be their proof of the citizenship.” I had sent for a certified copy of my mother’s original application for naturalization and now presented it to the Social Security Administration Office.
I was surprised to find that neither the Immigration Office nor the Social Security Office staff were aware of the law. They had to ‘verify’ what I presented to them. Of course, once they were able to verify that this truly is the law, the Social Security Administration Office was able to change my status back to U.S. Citizen. My concern is that DHS still would not recognize my citizenship, made me travel to the local Homeland Security Office, where more copies of my paperwork were made, but no change in my status was entered into the database, because the agent informed me, that ‘he didn’t have access to that database’ to change my status. He did assure me that he had been in contact with the Washington DC DHS office, but they also did not know what to do with the information.
So, in conclusion, if DHS cannot clear up a simple matter of citizenship of a LEGAL immigrant of 47 years, then I would ask HOW will they be better suited to handling the information included in the ‘enhanced driver’s licenses’? How will they be able to prevent hacking, and if once done, will they have any mechanism in place to rectify the problem? Will they have personell that will know how to utilize the programs or databases any better than they handled my situation? Personally, I am left with the impression of incompetence and ineptitude.
Sincerely,
Wow, what a story! You end with a great question – how can they handle important local things if they can’t get anything else right, and vice versa?
In fact, how can they be trusted with your neighborhood if the neighborhood they’re responsible for – D.C. – is filled with crime and corruption?
Incompetent is right, they were incompetent to begin with! Losing records, not keeping track of who was coming or going, this is why we are in the trouble we are in.
We need to AMEND the OLD ADOPTION LAWS in Michigan where the birth parent can only leave non-identifying information on record for her adopted out child. What has been done to ensure that the child actually knows that he/she has been adopted? The Michigan Adoption Laws are outdated & outmoded. Why should the birth parent suffer an entire life time due to relinquishing an infant because of an outmoded system of wrong beliefs set in that family unit during another place in time…someone post me a link!
DHS should be banished from Michigan – as well as every other state.
Perhaps if the 10th Amendment movement can gain some strength,
this federal nonsense could be reined in.
Reigning in the federal government is definitely the goal – the same goal of the founders. Even those founders who were considered to be supporters of big government – most notably, Alexander Hamilton, would be disgusted with the massive overreach of today’s federal government.
I have not heard of the 10th amendement being brought up in politics since 1968. That is when governor George Wallace railed against the federal government calling them “brief case tote-tin bureaucrates”. Neither party seems interested in reigning in this huge Federal Government. Our republic is in danger of becoming a democracy.
to Michael Boldin – Bless you. I agree with your sentiments entirely. by the way, the word is “reining” and not “reigning” – (almost opposites).
I hope this story has been shared with Tom DeWeese, who has been warning us emphatically against the E-verify legislation, which, unfortunately, is being pushed by Numbers USA. AVOID CONFERRING ANY MORE POWER ON WASHINGTON!
Fred, thank you for your feedback, and do appreciate the correction on the use of the word reining….just looked it up and sure enough, the correct version is now in my memory!
It’s my hope that this is shared with a large number of people. Paul has taken a strong stand here and he’s going to need some strong support to move this to the next level…