End Birthright Citizenship
Overview
Birthright Citizenship is the practice of offering automatic citizenship to children born in the United States. Under current federal law, all children born in the U.S. receive automatic citizenship, but this practice had created a magnet for foreign nationals who want their children to have citizenship in the United States.
Traditionally, nations that offer Birthright Citizenship do so to increase its own population. Most developed nations have ended the practice of Birthright Citizenship or have never offered it in the first place. The United States is the most populated nation to still offer Birthright Citizenship
Birthright Citizenship is the practice of offering automatic citizenship to children born in the United States. Under current federal law, all children born in the U.S. receive automatic citizenship, but this practice had created a magnet for foreign nationals who want their children to have citizenship in the United States.
Traditionally, nations that offer Birthright Citizenship do so to increase its own population. Most developed nations have ended the practice of Birthright Citizenship or have never offered it in the first place. The United States is the most populated nation to still offer Birthright Citizenship
A bill to repeal Birthright Citizenship has been offered in the House of Representatives by former Georgia Congressman Nathan Deal. After Rep. Deal’s resignation to run for governor, the bill’s sponsorship was taken over by California Congressman Gary Miller.
The Immigration and Nationality Act defines Birthright Citizenship in the United States, but it’s also a clause in the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. However, the Supreme Court has never interpreted the Birthright Citizenship clause as it applies to illegal aliens – only legal immigrants.
Visit your Action Buffet to take action!
Related Issues
Update
END BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP: 4 More Bill Co-Sponsors (Aderholt, Hensarling, Herger & McKeon)
Tuesday, June 7, 2011, 1:35 PM EDT – posted on NumbersUSA
Elected Officials Who…
- Sponsored the Birthright Citizenship Act of 2011 (H.R.140)
Updated Friday, May 27, 2011, 7:50 AM EDT – posted on NumbersUSA
- (AL) Alderholt
- (AL) Bachus
- (AL) Brooks
- (AL) Rogers
- (AL) Schweikert
- (AR) Crawford
- (AR) Griffin
- (AR) Womack
- (CA) Bilbray
- (CA) Calvert
- (CA) Campbell
- (CA) Herger
- (CA) Hunter
- (CA) McKeon
- (CA) Miller
- (CA) Royce
- (CO) Coffman
- (CO) Lamborn
- (FL) Adams
- (FL) Miller
- (FL) Nugent
- (FL) Posey
- (FL) Ross
- (FL) Stearns
- (FL) West
- (GA) Broun
- (GA) Gingrey
- (GA) Graves
- (GA) Kingston
- (GA) Westmoreland
- (GA) Woodall
- (IL) Manzullo
- (IN) Burton
- (IN) Stutzman
- (IA) King
- (KY) Davis
- (LA) Alexander
- (LA) Fleming
- (LA) Landry
- (LA) Scalise
- (MD) Bartlett
- (MD) Harris
- (MI) Benishek
- (MI) Walberg
- (MN) Cravaack
- (MN) Klein
- (MS) Palazzo
- (MS) Harper
- (MS) Nunnelee
- (MO) Akin
- (MO) Graves
- (NE) Fortenberry
- (NC) Foxx
- (NC) Jones
- (NC) Myrick
- (NE) Smith
- (NJ) Garrett
- (OH) Schmidt
- (PA) Barletta
- (SC) Duncan
- (SC) Wilson
- (TN) Duncan
- (TX) Burgess
- (TX) Carter
- (TX) Conaway
- (TX) Culberson
- (TX) Gohmert
- (TX) Hall
- (TX) Hensarling
- (TX) Johnson
- (TX) Marchant
- (TX) Neugebauer
- (TX) Poe
- (TX) Sessions
- (VA) Forbes
- (WV) McKinley
Elected Officials Who…
- Sponsored the Birthright Citizenship Act of 2011 (S.723)
Updated Friday, May 27, 2011, 7:49 AM EDT – posted on NumbersUSA
- (AR) Boozman
- (KS) Moran
- (KY) Paul
- (LA) Vitter
- (UT) Lee
Elected Officials Who…
- Sponsored the LEAVE Act (H.R.1196)
Updated Tuesday, May 3, 2011, 11:03 AM EDT – posted on NumbersUSA
- (CA) Bilbray
- (CA) Campbell
- (CA) Miller
- (CA) Royce
- (NC) Myrick
- (PA) Platts
- (TX) Marchant
Reps. Robert Alderholt (R-Ala.), Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), Wally Herger (R-Calif.), and Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) have cosponsored the Birthright Citizenship Act of 2011 introduced by Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa). The bill currently has 77 co-sponsors and amends current U.S. code to require at least one parent to be a U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident for a new born to receive automatic citizenship.
The Fourteenth Amendment extends citizenship to all persons born in the U.S. and “subject to the jurisdiction”; it also grants Congress the power to enforce and define the provisions of the amendment.
Since the Civil Rights Act of 1866, Congress has defined Birthright Citizenship through appropriate legislation, which for decades has granted citizenship to newborns with both parents illegal aliens, foreign tourists or temporary foreign workers and students. The Fourteenth Amendment gives Congress the right to define birthright citizenship differently.
The Birthright Citizenship Act of 2011 would add to the existing federal code a provision that requires at least one parent of a new born to be a U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident in order for the new born to receive automatic citizenship.
The United States is one of two industrialized nations (Canada) to offer Birthright Citizenship.
Rep. Aderholt represents Alabama’s 4th Congressional District. He is serving his 8th term in Congress and has earned a career A grade.
Rep. Hensarling represents Texas’ 5th Congressional District. He is serving his 5th term in Congress and has a career B+ grade.
Rep. Herger represents California’s 2nd Congressional District. He is serving his 13th term in Congress and has a career A grade.
Rep. McKeon represents California’s 25th Congressional District. He is serving his 10th term in Congress and has a career A+ grade.
For the full list of cosponsors, visit the Thomas section of the Library of Congress’ website.
Stats
Welfare Benefits to Illegal Aliens in Los Angeles County in 2010
Stats – Friday, January 21, 2011
Publications
Fact Sheet: LEAVE Act of 2011 (H.R.1196)
Fact Sheets – Wednesday, March 23, 2011
USA Today Birthright Citizenship Editorial (PDF)
Local Power Team – Tuesday, August 31, 2010
USA Today Birthright Citizenship Editorial
Local Power Team – Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Jordan Commission — Executive Summary on Legal Immigration
Congressional Testimony – Friday, September 1, 1995
In the News
Does the Constitution really say that children of illegal immigrants are automatic citizens?
Quoted – Thursday, January 27, 2011
By Katrina Trinko — National Review
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/257647/new-immigration-debate-katrina-trinko
A method to Lindsey Graham’s birthright citizenship madness?
Quoted – Friday, August 27, 2010
By Suzy Khimm — Washington Post
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2010/08/a_method_to_lindsey_grahams_bi.html
Birthright and Wrong
Quoted – Wednesday, August 11, 2010
BY David Weigel — SLATE MAGAZINE
GOP push to revise 14th Amendment not gaining steam
Quoted – Sunday, August 8, 2010
By Sandhya Somashekhar — Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/07/AR2010080702605.html?hpid=topnews
Citizenship From Birth Is Challenged on the Right
Quoted – Friday, August 6, 2010
By Julia Preston — New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/07/us/politics/07fourteenth.html?ref=immigration-and-emigration
GOP leaders want to close birthright loophole
Quoted – Thursday, August 5, 2010
“It’s an incorrect interpretation of the 14th Amendment, and it needs to be changed desperately,” she reiterates. “The problem is it’s not going to happen with the Democrats controlling the House and the Senate, so November 2 is a big, big moment for this country in terms of immigration policy.”
By Chad Groening – OneNewsNow
‘Anchor Babies’ New Center of Immigration Debate
Quoted – Monday, June 14, 2010
“Each of these babies becomes an anchor who retards deportation of unlawfully present parents – and who eventually will be an anchor for entire families and villages as chain migration leads to the immigration of grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins,” he wrote.
“Birthright citizenship is an antiquated practice that has been abandoned by nearly all wealthy nations and emerging nations (recently India and Indonesia) and by the majority of poor nations.”
KLJB.com
Senate candidates urge end to automatic citizenship
Quoted – Friday, May 21, 2010
By Cathy McKitrick — The Salt Lake Tribune
Ga. congressman wants to end automatic citizenship
Quoted – Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Deal, who has submitted his bill to the House Judiciary Committee, said he’s not optimistic about it becoming law this year unless it is tacked onto another bill.
By Kate Brumback — Associated Press
Illegal immigration: Can states win fight against ‘birthright citizenship’?
In the News – Friday, January 7, 2011
By Daniel B. Wood — Christian Science Monitor
L.A. County welfare to children of illegal immigrants grows
In the News – Sunday, September 5, 2010
The payments, made to illegal immigrants for their U.S. citizen children, included $30 million in food stamps and $22 million from the CalWorks welfare program, according to county figures released Friday by Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich.
By Teresa Watanabe — Los Angeles Times
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-illegal-welfare-20100906,0,3446997.story
Birthright of a Nation
In the News – Friday, August 13, 2010
The citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment, adopted in 1868, provides that “all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States…” This language has traditionally been interpreted to give automatic citizenship to anyone born on American soil, even to the children of illegal immigrants.
Congress plans to hold hearings this fall on a constitutional amendment to change that language, something even moderate Republican senators like South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham support. With a new study showing that undocumented mothers account for a disproportionate number of births, even some Democrats might find it hard to stand opposed to altering the citizenship clause.
By Peter H. Schuck — New York Times Op-ed
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/14/opinion/14schuck.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss
An argument to be made about immigrant babies and citizenship
In the News – Monday, April 5, 2010
To end the practice of “birthright citizenship,” all that is required is to correct the misinterpretation of that amendment’s first sentence: “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.” From these words has flowed the practice of conferring citizenship on children born here to illegal immigrants.
By George Will — Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/26/AR2010032603077.html
A birthright the U.S. can’t afford
In the News – Monday, July 20, 2009
“[C]an the persons expelled be subjected to ‘cruel and unusual punishments’ in the process of expulsion, as would be the case if children born to them in this country were separated from them on their departure, because citizens of the United States?”
By Mitchell Young — Los Angeles Times
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opinionla/la-oew-young20-2009jul20,0,6370949.story
Most U.S. Hispanic Kids Have Immigrant Parents
In the News – Friday, May 29, 2009
The analysis of census data by the nonpartisan, Washington-based Pew Hispanic Center charts a substantial demographic shift among the nation’s 16 million Hispanic children, who constitute one of the fastest growing child populations in the United States and account for more than one of five U.S. children. As recently as 1980, nearly six of 10 Latino children were in the third generation or higher, meaning that their parents, and often their grandparents and great-grandparents, were native-born U.S. citizens. Only three of 10 were in the second generation — born in the United States to parents who immigrated.
By N.C. Aizenman — Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/28/AR2009052801506.html
Congressional Testimony
Jordan Commission — Executive Summary on Legal Immigration
Congressional Testimony – Friday, September 1, 1995
Comments
Although comments are moderated, they do not necessarily reflect the views of NumbersUSA or its staff.
Guidelines
Guidelines