Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) has introduced the "Exclusive Citizenship Act of 2025," a measure that would require all Americans to hold only U.S. nationality. The proposal would force dual citizens — including First Lady Melania Trump and her son Barron — to renounce their foreign citizenship or lose their U.S. status.
Melania, born in Slovenia in 1970, moved to New York in 1996 and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2006. Her son Barron, born later that year in the United States, is also understood to hold Slovenian citizenship through his mother.
According to Mary Jordan's 2020 book The Art of Her Deal, which focuses on Melania, it was essential to the first lady that Barron spoke Slovenian and he held a Slovenian passport, in addition to an American one, The Independent points out. "[Donald] Trump has complained to others that he has no idea what they are saying," one passage of the book reads.
In an interview last year, Jordan said that dual citizenship allowed Barron to "work freely in all of Europe much more easily, so if he wants to go start a Paris bureau of Trump.org or a Slovenian bureau, it's much easier for him, and it just gives him more options.
Under Moreno's bill, dual citizens would have one year after enactment to submit a written renunciation of their foreign nationality to the Secretary of State or to renounce U.S. citizenship to the Department of Homeland Security. Anyone who does not comply would be treated as having voluntarily relinquished U.S. citizenship under immigration law, as reported by The Hill. The legislation would take effect 180 days after being signed.
Moreno argues that dual allegiance poses risks. "Being an American citizen is an honor and a privilege — and if you want to be an American, it's all or nothing," he said when announcing the bill. "It's time to end dual citizenship for good."
The proposal represents a major departure from decades of U.S. legal precedent. Supreme Court decisions, including Afroyim v. Rusk, establish that Americans cannot lose citizenship unless they willingly surrender it. Experts estimate that tens of millions of U.S. citizens are eligible for dual nationality across communities nationwide.
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