In an alert to the Portuguese community living in the United States, the Portuguese-American Leadership Council (PALCUS) urged action, calling on the “members and friends” of the Portuguese-American community to contact senators and representatives in Congress to express their opposition to a proposed bill.
“We write to urgently draw attention to a newly introduced bill in the Senate that, if passed, would significantly and adversely affect thousands of Portuguese-Americans and other dual nationality citizens in the United States,” stated PALCUS, the sole organization representing Portuguese and Portuguese descendants on a national level in the U.S.
The bill, titled the “Exclusive Citizenship Act of 2025,” proposes to prohibit anyone from holding U.S. citizenship concurrently with another country’s citizenship.
The proposal is authored by Senator Bernie Moreno, a Republican from Ohio, who was born in Colombia but renounced his Colombian citizenship.
According to the bill, individuals currently holding dual nationality would be required to choose between U.S. citizenship and foreign citizenship within one year.
Failure to comply would be considered a voluntary renunciation of U.S. citizenship.
Additionally, any person obtaining another nationality after the law’s enactment would automatically lose U.S. citizenship.
This is not the first attempt by a legislator to repeal dual nationality laws in the country, with experts predicting constitutional and administrative barriers to its becoming a reality.
Current legislation allows Americans to hold more than one nationality without having to choose one allegiance over another.
“If approved, this legislation would drastically change the longstanding U.S. policy that currently allows dual citizenship in most circumstances. It would impose significant pressure on families, businesses, cultural organizations, and all those who maintain strong ties to their heritage and country of origin,” warned PALCUS.
“Many in our Portuguese-American community — including several PALCUS members — would be directly and negatively affected,” emphasized the organization.
The proposed bill would force Portuguese-Americans to renounce “part of their identity, and many would be forced into an impossible choice,” it argued further.
Currently, PALCUS is closely monitoring this federal proposal and is preparing to engage with legislators, partner organizations, and community leaders to ensure Portuguese-American voices are heard throughout the process.
Noting that legislators respond when their constituents collectively voice their opinions, PALCUS urged the Portuguese community in the U.S. to contact their elected senators and congressmen to express opposition to the bill and encourage them to vote against it.
Frank Ferreira, the Portuguese community advisor for the Washington circle, was among the Portuguese-American voices publicly rejecting this bill and called on the Portuguese Government to oppose it with the Trump administration.
“As a proud Portuguese-American, I vehemently oppose the ‘Exclusive Citizenship Act of 2025.’ The sponsor’s argument that ‘dual citizenship creates conflicts of interest and divided loyalties’ is, at best, wrong, and at worst, insulting and unconstitutional,” argued Frank Ferreira in a press release sent to Lusa.
“This legislation is divisive, an attack on the bilateral relations between Portugal and the United States, and a blatant violation of constitutional rights defined in U.S. law — which also apply to Portuguese-Americans,” he added.
This new proposal could directly affect the U.S. First Lady, Melania Trump, and the youngest son of the President, Barron Trump, both holding U.S. and Slovenian citizenship.
