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O 261331Z JUL 07
FM AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS
TO SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3933
INFO AMEMBASSY AMMAN 
AMEMBASSY CAIRO 
AMEMBASSY BEIRUT 
AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD 
AMEMBASSY SANAA 
AMEMBASSY KUWAIT 
AMEMBASSY ANKARA 
AMCONSUL ISTANBUL 
AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV 
AMEMBASSY MUSCAT 
AMEMBASSY MANAMA 
AMEMBASSY ABU DHABI 
AMEMBASSY DOHA 
AMEMBASSY ATHENS 
AMEMBASSY TRIPOLI 
NVC PORTSMOUTH 6391
HOMELAND SECURITY CENTER WASHINGTON DC
CIA WASHDC
DIR FBI WASHDC

UNCLAS DAMASCUS 000765 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
 
TAGS: CPAS KFRD KWMN ASEC SY IZ IR
 
SUBJECT: MATCHING FOOTPRINTS: FIRST TIME ADULT AMCIT APPLICANTS FROM IRAQ AND IRAN, IN SYRIA 
 
 
¶1.  A growing number of men in their early-to-mid 20s who claim to 
have been born in the United States are now applying for their first 
U.S. passports.  Of the six individuals in the last two weeks, five 
came to Syria from Iraq (including two brothers) and one from Iran. 
One of the Iraqis was previously refused a passport by Embassy Cairo 
due to lack of credible identity documents. 
 
¶2.  In every case, the applicant had a purportedly genuine U.S. 
birth certificate, along with supporting materials including old 
family passports and documents related to his parents' presence in 
the U.S. at the time of the birth.  The said documentation appears 
to be valid in most cases, leaving the troublesome matter of 
identity to be resolved.  Family records and photograph chains can 
be used to verify that the baby in the U.S. photos and the man in 
the interview booth are the same person, however, in the case of the 
Iraqi documents, the poor quality of the S series passports, 
identity cards and citizenship certificates still can leave doubt as 
to the identity of the applicant.  Is it the same person, or a 
similar-looking relative?  In one recent case, the applicant asked 
us to take a print of his foot to see if it matched the baby 
footprint on the birth certificate. 
 
¶3.  Most applicants claimed that because of fears of political 
repression, when the parents returned to their home countries they 
were afraid to advertise the American identity of their children. 
Therefore, they obtained local (i.e. Iraqi or Iranian) birth 
certificates and documentation for the boys and apparently hid their 
U.S. records.  The result is fully documented foreign nationals 
claiming birth in the US.  The poor quality and procedures used in 
Iraq and Iran during the 1980s add to the problem, because possibly 
legitimate documents are difficult to distinguish from fraudulent 
ones.  We anticipate that regional conditions will cause the number 
of these applications to increase.