“Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship” was one of President Trump’s first executive orders.  The order states, “the Fourteenth Amendment has never been interpreted to extend citizenship universally to everyone born within the United States,” but the Fourteenth Amendment “has always excluded” persons born in the U.S. but not “‘subject to the jurisdiction thereof.’”  President Trump’s order quotes Congressional legislation, 8 U.S. Code § 1401, that specifies that the 14th Amendment is speaking to “‘a person born in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof’ is a national and citizen of the United States.”

Trump’s order has been blocked by four federal judges, leading NPR’s fake news headline to read, “Trump wants to end birthright citizenship.” CBS writes “What is birthright citizenship, and can Trump end the constitutional right in the U.S.?”  CNN writes, “What the 14th Amendment says about birthright citizenship”.  All of these ignore what Congress established, and the first paragraph of the U.S. Constitution itself.  

The first seven words of the U.S. Constitution state, “We the People of the United States” and the last nine words of the first paragraph says, “…establish this Constitution for the United States of America,” meaning, the U.S. Constitution is for “we the people” who are citizens of the United States of America.  That means the articles, sections, and amendments of the Constitution apply to “we the people” who are United States Citizens.  You can’t just delve into the Constitution and pick out different things and apply them, ignoring the very first paragraph of the document, for the first paragraph sets the premise to which all the articles and amendments apply.

Let’s read the 14th Amendment, Section 1:

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.

When the Amendment says, “all persons born,” it is speaking under the premise of the first paragraph of the document, meaning that this is “all persons born” of “we the people of the United States of America.”  So, this is saying that all children born of U.S. citizens are also U.S. citizens.

It is noteworthy to examine the fifth word in this Amendment.  The word is “naturalized” and is defined to mean “a foreign person who legally acquired citizenship.”  This again is emphasizing the truth that this Amendment is speaking to people who are legally in the U.S. and are citizens of the U.S.

Tom Homan, Trump’s Border Czar, states that the way birthright citizenship is currently applied means illegal aliens have babies in the United States, making these babies “anchor babies,” and it is a “magnet for more illegal immigration.”

The Center for Immigration Studies reports that there were 225,000 to 250,000 births to illegal immigrants in 2023 alone.  This accounts for 7 percent of births in the U.S.

Homan stated, “Now, I’m not a lawyer, but I can read.  I don’t think it’s clear that an illegal alien that has a child in this country is automatically a U.S. citizen.”

In fact, these children are not U.S. citizens.  The Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI) has filed an amicus brief in these court cases which are against Trump’s order.  The brief states, “the 14th Amendment is clear in that birthright citizenship was never intended for the U.S.-born children of illegal aliens.”  Writing to the Supreme Court, IRLI lawyers stated, “This Court has held that only children born in the United States to parents who, at the time, were permitted to reside in the United States are citizens at birth by virtue of the Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.”

One of the cases to which IRLI lawyers are referring is the United States v. Wong Kim Ark.  This case involves Chinese parents who were legally residing in San Francisco, who after having a child, returned to China.  Upon trying to come back to the U.S., their child, Wong Kim Ark, was denied readmittance.  The argument was made before the Supreme Court that Wong Kim Ark was a citizen of the U.S. under the 14th Amendment because he was born in the U.S.  The Supreme Court agreed, holding that, “because — and only because — his parents were legally residing in the United States when he was born here,” he was a citizen at birth under the 14th Amendment.

This Supreme Court ruling clearly shows that to be a citizen of the United States at birth under the 14th Amendment, one must be born of a parent who, at the time, had permission to reside in the United States.  This ruling excludes children of both illegal aliens and tourists from constitutional birthright citizenship, since neither class of aliens has permission to reside here.

Unfortunately, “the eminently reasonable holding of Wong Kim Ark has been ignored for 127 years,” according to Dale L. Wilcox, executive director and general counsel of IRLI.  Continuing, Wilcox stated,

Meanwhile, millions, including children of so-called ‘birth tourists,’ have been assumed to be citizens even though the Supreme Court has held they are not.  In America, neither foreigners with no connection to this country nor those here against the will of the nation should get to decide who shall be American citizens.  President Trump’s order stops that going forward, and we hope our brief allows the court to recognize that this challenge to it must fail.

Image: Public domain.