Rep. George Santos (R-NY) on Monday announced that he’ll be running for re-election next year. But things got complicated as his team denied that he was born in the United States and then denied the denial.
Santos has been embroiled in a series of scandals, including participating in a credit card skimming operation; lying about helping children living with a rare skin disease; allegations that he stole thousands of dollars from a disabled veteran’s dying dog; a job-seeker’s claim that Santos sexually harassed him in his congressional office; or any of the many other colorful controversies of which he’s at the center.
His announcement did not touch any of those scandals. It did, however, quote the congressman referring to himself as a “first-generation American”—meaning, according to common usage, the Census Bureau, and Harvard University’s immigration center, one who was born outside the United States.
Santos has said that he was born in Sunnyside, Queens to parents who emigrated from Brazil. Late last year, however, a statement attributed to his lawyer referred to Santos as an immigrant. And as Patch reported, according to one former coworker, Santos has said he was born in Brazil.
As noted by VICE News, “the significance of this is that the Constitution requires members of Congress to have been citizens for seven years. If Santos was born abroad, as his own campaign has now repeatedly said he was, that wouldn’t necessarily disqualify him from office, but it would raise questions about when he became a citizen, as well as why he had claimed to have been born in Queens.”
The report from VICE also points out that “no official body has looked into whether Santos is qualified for office, much less confirmed that he is, as no one is exactly in charge of doing so.”
Seeking clarity, VICE News asked Santos’ campaign press team the following question: “In his statement announcing his re-election campaign, Representative Santos referred to himself as a ‘first-generation American.’ First-generation Americans are those who were born outside the United States and emigrated to the U.S. Is Representative Santos a first-generation American, and if not, why did he refer to himself as one?”
“Yes. He is a first generation American,” they replied.
In response to a follow-up question asking to whom specifically the claim that Santos was not born in the U.S. could be attributed, the press team complicated things.
“Let’s be clear,” the press team wrote. “There are two possible meanings of the adjective ‘first generation’ according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary. First generation can refer to a person born in the U.S. to immigrant parents or a naturalized American citizen. Both types of people are considered to be U.S. citizens.
