Did you know that many Green Card holders do not realize they are U.S. Citizens?

Eligible children who were born or adopted in a foreign country can obtain U.S. citizenship before age 18 under the Child Citizenship Act (CCA). A child who obtains U.S. citizenship under the CCA can apply for a certificate of citizenship and a U.S. passport. The CCA is for children who did not acquire U.S. citizenship at birth.

The are countless legal permanent residents in the United States who may be U.S. Citizens, and they do not even know it. What is known as derivative citizenship, children born outside the United States whose custodial parent(s) was a naturalized U.S. citizen when the child became a legal permanent resident under the age of 18 but after February 27, 2001, acquires or derives U.S. Citizenship automaticity. Unfortunately, there are countless children who entered the United Status as legal permanent residents, but who also turned 18 years of age before February 27, 2001 – the cut off age that limits who derives citizenship automatically.

The Child Citizenship Act of 2001, unlike prior years, allows children who entered the U.S. as legal permanent residents under the age of 18 to acquire US citizenship if their custodial parent was a naturized U.S citizen before the child turned 18 years of age.

Contact Pappas Legal PLLC to find out if you qualify and how to obtain your U.S. Passport or Certificate of Citizenship.

DOWNLOADABLE RESOURCES

If ICE Visits Your Home

Si ICE Visita Su Hogar

Si ICE Llega a Su Lugar de Empleo (Empleado)

If ICE Stops You in Public

Si ICE Lo Para en Público

Conversation with Attorney George Pappas and Chris Richardson of BDV Solutions about the EB3 Visa and Your Rights if ICE Detains You

Line graph showing the percentage of detained immigrants with no criminal record from 2020 to 2024, with a sharp increase in September 2024. The chart notes include data on detainees arrested by ICE and a comparison of the proportions under Trump and Biden administrations.

After Trump, more detained immigrants wihtout any criminal history

Sketch of an office desk with an American flag, a speaker, two small bottles, a mug with pens, and a blue file folder, with a wall clock reading 'The Office for Immigration'.

The Hand That Rocks The Gavel

Broadcast by This American Life on September 19, 2025

A group of immigration judges, who almost never speak to the press, describes the dismantling of our immigration court system from the inside.

A police officer wearing a purple bandana over his face, sunglasses, a purple cap, and a tactical vest stands with crossed arms in a hallway. In the background, another officer is walking away.

Ex-Immigration Judge Reveals Tactics Used to Arrest Migrants Who Show Up for Court

“It interferes with judicial neutrality and that interferes with due process and our responsibility to hold a fair hearing,” the judge, George Pappas, said.

Attorney George Pappas and former Immigration Judge speaks out against the attack on immigration judges and our courts

Immigration judges describe threat to judicial independence from Justice Dept.

Exclusive Talk with Immigration Judge George D. Pappas

Front page of The Sun newspaper, August 5, 2025, featuring headlines about Rourke Bridge construction starting August 11, a political speech on enforcement and government, and a Red Sox baseball promotion.

"If we don't think that's a violation of due process, I don't know what it is.”

Former Immigration Judge Exposes Political Interference in the Court System, right here in Massachusetts.

This is how due process disappears

August 29, 2025

George Pappas, an experienced immigration lawyer and a PhD in philosophy to boot, accepted an appointment to a judgeship in a federal Immigration Court in Massachusetts. A resident of North Carolina, he and his wife began a long-distance relationship so he could take the post. Now he and a raft of his colleagues in immigration courts across the country have been summarily dismissed.

Pappas told the Lowell Sun, “Many of us uprooted from far away places to do this job. Some people bought a house, integrated their family, and then they got fired. They had a mortgage to pay, they have family here, and this has happened across the country. Many of us have relocated to become judges from different places and we’re just thrust out onto the street.”

Pappas will land on his feet. He’ll move back home and resume his private practice. But the federal court in which he served, located in my district, in Chelmsford, may not be as resilient. Once home to 18 judges, by the end of August it will be down to 6. The backlog of unresolved cases is, predictably, exploding.

Courtesy of his long reach from Washington, immigration czar Stephen Miller is disappearing due process. Who knew you could kidnap the Constitution? Thank you, Lorena Betts of Chelmsford Connected, for setting up the conversation with Judge Pappas before he returns to North Carolina and we lose him.