Jewish same-sex couple sues State Department after infant daughter denied citizenship

A same-sex couple from Maryland is suing the U.S. State Department for refusing to grant birthright citizenship to their infant daughter.

Kessem Kiviti, who is 6 months old, was born via surrogacy in Canada, according to the LGBTQ immigrants’ rights organization Immigration Equality. She is the daughter of Roee and Adiel Kiviti, who are both American citizens. But Kessem’s biological relationship is to Adiel, who was born in Israel and became a U.S. citizen in January. Adiel falls one year short of meeting the five-year residency requirement to transfer citizenship.

Roee also is an Israel native and grew up in Southern California; he became a U.S. citizen in 1993. The couple married in October 2013 in California and lived abroad until they moved back to the United States in 2015.

They have a son, Lev, who was born in Canada in 2016 through surrogacy and has been recognized as a U.S. citizen since birth.

The Kivitis received official notice of the rejection in early July. Kessem is currently residing in the U.S. on a tourist visa. They filed a lawsuit challenging the rejection last week in U.S. District Court in Maryland with Immigration Equality and Lambda Legal.

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