Gay Couple Sues State Department Over Citizenship.
HILL: A gay married couple is suing the State Department after their newborn daughter was denied U.S. citizenship because she was born using a surrogate in Canada. Roee and Adiel Kiviti are both naturalized U.S. citizens. They say their daughter, Kessem, was denied birthright citizenship, though, under a State Department policy that considers her to be, quote, born out of wedlock. CNN did reach out to the State Department. An official told CNN they do not comment on pending litigation. Joining us now the Kiviti family, Roee, Adiel and their children, Kessem and Lev, who are all with us this morning. Good to have you here.</s>ROEE KIVITI, SUING STATE DEPARTMENT FOR DENYING DAUGHTER CITIZENSHIP: Thank you.</s>HILL: So, for a lot of folks, this is -- this is probably confusing to them, and I know it was to you, because you went through the same process with your son in 2016. No hiccup. No hurdle. What changed?</s>ADIEL KIVITI, SUING STATE DEPARTMENT FOR DENYING DAUGHTER CITIZENSHIP: Yes, we're not sure. We were also pretty shocked when submitting our application and getting the refusal. As you mentioned, we were -- we went through this process before with no issues. It was in the previous -- under the previous State Department. And we were very confused and very devastating as well.</s>HILL: And the law, it's our understanding, has not changed in that time. Initially, though, your application for your daughter was approved.</s>R. KIVITI: Well, our -- our daughter applied for a passport, we applied for her, right after she was born. We went into the passport office. We submitted our application. And then immediately, and this did not happen with our son, they wrote with a red marker on the application "surrogacy" because we were two men, and then we were forced to sit there for an hour after different sex couple after different sex couple walked up, did the exact same procedure and walked away. And we had to sit there through that sort of humiliation, if you will. And that was really frustrating. It was -- it was -- and then when we got the rejection letter, it was sort of the punch in the gut, if you will.</s>HILL: So -- and -- and just clear this up for me. So you said you went up there and this didn't happen with your son, but they wrote "surrogate" or "surrogacy" on your daughter's application and then you mentioned that other couples came up after you. Were they also -- did they also have a child that was born via surrogate?</s>R. KIVITI: It wasn't clear to us.</s>HILL: OK.</s>R. KIVITI: This is a passport office.</s>HILL: Yes.</s>R. KIVITI: So everybody comes. But I'm saying other -- other couples came up after us and it took two minutes and they left.</s>HILL: So you're now part of a lawsuit. We know that this is the fourth lawsuit, as I understand it, against the State Department policy. A federal judge actually ruled in favor, of course, of another same-sex couple in February, and then the State Department appealed. Where do things stand for you right now?</s>A. KIVITI: Well, so we submitted our lawsuit last week and we're basically in a state of waiting, hearing -- hearing what State Department has to say. You know, we are trying to, you know, keep on living our daily life and trying to -- we have two kids under three in our house so --</s>HILL: That's no small feat.</s>A. KIVITI: No, it's challenging. And it's just like another layer of anxiety which is -- it's really unnecessary. I mean it's very -- it's very upsetting. It's very nerve-racking to be in a scenario where we need to fight for our family. We need to fight for our marriage. We need to fight for this. I mean we are parents. We are -- we've been married for six years. And the last thing that would have imagined to do is, you know, being here on TV and not like, you know, taking those kids to the playground and like enjoying, you know, being parents.</s>R. KIVITI: And I want to say, you know, we were there the moment she was born. We were the first people who held her. She first cried in our arms. We gave her her first feeding, her first bath. She first slept on our chests, skin to skin. We are the only parents she's ever know. We are her only parents. We know what a family is. The law is clear on what a family is. But we filed this suit on my parents' 52nd wedding anniversary. They raised five kids. They taught us what family is. It's clear to everyone, apparently except for the State Department. And I would urge Secretary Pompeo to fix this in a second. It can be fixed.</s>HILL: What else have you been told besides the fact that she's born out of wedlock? Is that the only reason they're giving you?</s>A. KIVITI: Essentially, yes, this is the reason. They don't recognize us as a family. They don't recognize our children as born to us. They are not recognized each of us as the parent of both of our children. Even though, you know, those children were born into this marriage. Those children have two parents. We are the only parents that they have since they were born on their birth certificate. You know, we're a family. We are parents. And we're both U.S. citizens. This scenario is just cruel.</s>R. KIVITI: And the Supreme Court has already ruled on same-sex marriage, that we're supposed to get all of the benefits. You know, what's the point of giving us -- recognizing our right to marry if you're not going to recognize the families that we create with that marriage.</s>HILL: So, Kessem, as we mentioned, we know she was born in Canada via surrogate. She's here, obviously, with you, sitting there on your lap, but she's here on a tourist visa and that's set to expire pretty soon. What happens at that point?</s>R. KIVITI: It is. And, you know, that's really unsettling. Every parent wants to give their child security for today and assurances for tomorrow. And this policy isn't letting us do that. And, you know, we have to explain to our kids their story. We're very confident of all of the people that were involved to bring them into this world, all of the people who, in a very loving way, helped us build this family. And this is going to be part of their story. We're confident that the law is on our side and that we will, indeed, win this, not just on behalf of our daughter and our family, but on behalf of all American families across the country.</s>HILL: Well, we will continue to follow the case. Roee, Adiel, we appreciate you joining us this morning. Thank you.</s>A. KIVITI: Thank you.</s>BERMAN: Oh, look at those kids.</s>HILL: Aren't' they adorable?</s>BERMAN: Adorable. They have their hands full, to say the least,</s>HILL: They really do. I mean, also two kids under three. Whoo, we remember those days.</s>BERMAN: All right, we are following breaking news on many fronts, including the largest strike among auto workers in more than a decade. CNN's breaking news coverage continues right after this.