
Tom Fitton|May 15, 2025 13:24
The Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment provides that “[a]ll 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.” U.S. Const. amend. XIV, § 1. On January 20, 2025, President Donald J. Trump issued an Executive Order addressing what it means to be “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States. See Exec. Order No. 14160, Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship (Citizenship EO or EO). That EO recognizes that the Constitution does not grant birthright citizenship to the children of aliens who are unlawfully present in the United States or the children of aliens whose presence is lawful but temporary. Prior misimpressions of the Citizenship Clause have created a perverse incentive for illegal immigration that has negatively impacted this country’s sovereignty, national security, and economic stability. But the generation that enacted the Fourteenth Amendment did not fate the United States to such a reality. Instead, text, history, and precedent support what common sense compels: the Constitution does not harbor a windfall clause granting American citizenship to, inter alia, the children of those who have circumvented (or outright defied) federal immigration laws.--@RealDonaldTrump DOJ brief.
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