Achieving dual citizenship helps family with identity

By Timothy Pratt

Monday, Feb. 11, 2002 | 11:01 a.m.

Rabbi Felipe Goodman is no stranger to firsts, or to questions about identity -- his own or that of his family.

In 1996 he was the first Mexican to be ordained as a rabbi by the 115-year-old Jewish Theological Seminary of America, based in New York.

When he was growing up in Mexico City, his last name caused people to ask his father, a native, if he was "really Mexican."

Last week Goodman's two daughters, Daniela and Arielle, 3 months and 6 years old, became the first people to become dual citizens of the United States and Mexico through the new Mexican consulate in Las Vegas.

For Goodman it was a matter of identity, to ensure his American-born children embrace their Mexican heritage.

The girls joined the ranks of an estimated 44 million immigrants living in the United States who are eligible for dual citizenship, as more countries pass laws allowing shared loyalties.

The trend was noted with concern earlier this month by the Washington-based Center for Immigration Studies, which published a report saying 17 Latin American nations now allow dual citizenship, compared with four in 1990. Mexicans alone make up more than one-fourth of foreign-born U.S. residents, according to the Census Bureau.

Mexico has allowed dual citizenship since 1997. The United States does not formally recognize it, but does not prohibit it either.

"The sheer number of countries granting dual citizenship is unprecedented," Stanley Renshon, a political scientist, wrote.

The implications include fractured identities and a reduced level of integration into American society, Renshon said.

Goodman, however, was looking for a more complete identity for his girls who, he said, are fully American.

A legal resident himself, Goodman originally came to the United States in 1990 to attend seminary to become a rabbi. He returned to Mexico for two years, then moved to Las Vegas to lead the congregation at Temple Beth Sholom in Las Vegas.

He, wife Liz and son Yoshua, 5, will be eligible for citizenship in four years. But his daughters, both born here, are already U.S. citizens.

Obtaining dual citizenship for his daughters was a personal goal that took him three years and visits to government offices in California and Mexico, Goodman said.

He started by trying to see the honorary consul who visited Las Vegas in years past, but those office hours were only on Saturdays -- the one day of the week his religion prohibits him from doing business. He went to the San Bernardino, Calif., consulate, the closest one to Las Vegas, but was told that he needed witnesses.

In Mexico he was told that he needed to apply in the U.S., and his latest attempt, in Los Angeles, ended in frustration when consulate officials said they could not finish the paperwork in a day, even though he had flown himself and witnesses down for the job.

"The bureaucracy until now was so difficult, I'm just grateful that the new consulate was able to do this," he said.

Goodman doesn't expect his children to become active in Mexican politics or to buy property in his homeland when they grow up, though they could. For him, it was a symbolic move.

"I did it as a way of honoring the struggle of my grandparents, who were persecuted as Jews in Russia in the 1920s and found Mexico to be a place where they could live their lives in a climate of religious freedom."

At the same time, Goodman said, he is clear where the loyalties of his family lie: on American soil. He applied to be a rabbi for the U.S. Army Reserve but was told he was ineligible because of his age, 36. The cutoff age was 35.

"Especially after Sept. 11, I feel more a part of this country than ever. If immigrants abdicate their responsibility to become a part of the country where they live, then they don't understand the very history of America."