Ex-US marine faces deportation to NZ

A New Zealand-born man who served in the U.S. Marine Corps for seven years is facing deportation from the United States after 36 years in the country, as he has never obtained U.S. citizenship.

Marine Veteran Faces Deportation

Paul Canton, now in his 50s, first came to the U.S. as an exchange student before enlisting in the Marines in the early 1990s. He built a life in Florida, where his children grew up, and considers the U.S. his home.

Canton’s Australian citizenship was revoked when he joined the Marines. At the time, military service did not require recruits to be permanent residents.

He was led to believe he would be granted U.S. citizenship upon honorable discharge, which he received in 1998. However, he only discovered this hadn’t happened when attempting to renew his driver’s license years later.

“The first time I found out I figured somebody failed to do the paperwork so I just [thought] OK, I’ll just go down and fill out a few forms and we’ll be done,” Canton said.

Despite being married to an American citizen – his wife died three years ago – and years of legal battles, a judge denied his bid to stay in the U.S. in February.

Attorney Elizabeth Ricci, who has represented Canton pro-bono for six years, described the case as complicated. Canton had voted, believing he was a U.S. citizen, which now presents a barrier to citizenship.

“He was honourably discharged, he did four years active, four years reserve, believed himself to be a US citizen so he registered to vote and voted,” Ricci said. “The rule about voting [and citizenship] changed in 1996 and if you voted or registered to vote after that rule changed, there’s now no waiver available for you to be eligible for you to naturalise, ever.”

Ricci explained that Canton’s eligibility for citizenship through military service was dependent on the timing of his active duty. Because his service began after the end of the Persian Gulf conflict, he was denied citizenship based on his military experience.

“The rule is that if you served during that period you could go from undocumented to citizen, so clearly enough people were serving in our military undocumented that they had to even make that rule. But the rule only applied for active duty.”

Ricci said they are now seeking political intervention, with letters sent to both former President Joe Biden and President Donald Trump without response. Canton could soon receive a notice to appear at Immigration Court in Orlando, though the timing is uncertain due to a significant backlog of cases.

Anyone born in New Zealand before January 1, 2006, is automatically a New Zealand citizen, according to the Department of Internal Affairs.

Canton stated he has no connection to New Zealand, as his family moved to Australia when he was five years old. “I have no connection to that way of life, I wouldn’t even know where to go or what to do and it’s so unique to live here in America. It’s a wonderful place to raise your kids.”