Italian American leaders are sounding alarms on both sides of the Atlantic as proposals in Washington and Rome threaten to narrow — or even sever — the ability of Americans to hold dual citizenship.
Basil Russo, president of the Conference of Presidents of Major Italian American Organizations (COPOMIAO), has been working for months to ease newly tightened Italian citizenship rules. Now, he finds himself pushing back against a second front right here in America. There is now a U.S. proposal to ban dual citizenship entirely.
Sen. Bernie Moreno of Ohio, a Republican, who immigrated to the United States from Colombia, recently introduced federal legislation to require Americans with another nationality to give it up or risk losing their U.S. citizenship. He framed the measure as a call for citizens to “show their loyalty” to the United States.
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Italian American...Without Italy
The senator’s argument lands poorly among millions of Americans who have long held a second citizenship without ever questioning their commitment to the United States. Dual citizenship, Italian American advocates note, has historically been a way for immigrants and their descendants to stay connected to their heritage — an act of cultural belonging, not a test of patriotism.
For Italian Americans in particular, the pursuit of dual citizenship has often been a tribute to family history: a desire to preserve language, honor ancestral towns, and maintain traditions carried across the Atlantic. To portray those motivations as disloyal, critics argue, is to misunderstand the immigrant experience at the core of American identity itself.
Italy PM Giorgia Meloni and U.S. Senator Bernie are the politicians who hate dual citizenship in stark contrast to the folks who love it.
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Resta in America
While the U.S. debate unfolds, Italy has already enacted dramatic changes. In late March, the government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni issued an emergency decree — later passed by parliament in May — that fundamentally rewrote who qualifies as an Italian citizen by descent. Under rules promoted by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, only the children and grandchildren of Italian citizens may now apply. Great-grandchildren and all later generations have been removed from eligibility.
The shift has blindsided thousands of Italian Americans who spent years assembling paperwork, hiring lawyers, and paying translation fees in pursuit of recognition. Their plans collapsed overnight.
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Let Us Have Both: America and Italy
Russo raised these concerns directly with Tajani during a diplomatic dinner in Washington this past July, emphasizing that the Italian American community feels unfairly shut out after generations of maintaining cultural ties.
“What Italy has done affects millions of families who have never stopped cherishing their origins,” Russo has said, warning that reforms on either side of the Atlantic risk weakening a bond that has endured for more than a century.
The controversy over dual citizenship is no longer a bureaucratic matter but a cultural one. For many families who hold both American and Italian passports, the connection to Italy is deeply emotional — a bridge to grandparents and great-grandparents whose lives shaped their own.
Moreno’s legislation, critics argue, was crafted without consulting communities most affected. Russo notes that dual citizens have served in the U.S. military, held elected office, and contributed to American civic life for generations. Loyalty, he says, cannot be measured by a passport.
“Whether in Washington or Rome, efforts to shrink or eliminate dual citizenship risk disenfranchising millions of Americans whose families — Italian or otherwise — helped build this country,” Russo said. “We are proud of where we come from, and we intend to make our voices heard.”
COPOMIAO has already sent formal correspondence to Prime Minister Meloni, and Russo is scheduled to meet soon with Italy’s Ambassador to the United States, Marco Peronaci, to press the community’s case.
Editor’s Note: The web site for the Conference of Presidents of Major Italian American Organizations: https://copomiao.org
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