US birthright citizenship: What changes if it's removed?
The US Supreme Court will soon decide whether being born in the USA is still enough to make a person a US citizen. The repeal
The US Supreme Court will soon decide whether being born in the USA is still enough to make a person a US citizen. The repeal of birthright citizenship is important to Donald Trump but what does it really mean? One of the first acts of Donald Trump's second term was an attempt to redefine the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution. Among a flurry of executive orders, the US president called for an end to the concept of birthright citizenship, which has existed in the US since 1868. A decision on the validity of the executive order is expected from the US Supreme Court (SCOTUS) on Tuesday. Trump has called the existing policy "a disgrace", with his vice president JD Vance having previously described it as "the dumbest immigration policy in the world." The subject has been through a number of legal twists and turns in various courts, including the Supreme Court, but this week's ruling is critical, regardless of the outcome, said Kim Lane Scheppele. "The fact that the question is now open in a way it never was has made citizenship more precarious, including for those who have lived all of their lives in the US," the professor of Sociology and International Affairs at Princeton and an expert in the sociology of law, told DW. In a world of strongmen like Trump, how can countries adapt? To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video "Don't forget that citizenship is under attack in many ways under Trump.
They've opened an office of denaturalization inside the Justice Department and are pressing to require proof of citizenship to vote. And few of us have such proof, less than half the US public has passports, for example." What is the current law regarding US birthright citizenship? The 14th Amendment says that: "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". This has been consistently interpreted by courts and governments to mean that children born in the US, whatever the status of their parents, become a US citizen by default. There are a few specific exceptions to the blanket law, including children born to foreign diplomats or invading enemy forces. How many people would changes to US birthright citizenship affect? The Migration Policy Institute think tank estimates that 255,000 children are born in the US every year to noncitizen parents. Any changes will not yet be retrospective, meaning that anyone who previously qualified for citizenship under birthright will be unaffected. According to research by the Pew Research Center, that was as many as 4.4 million Americans between the studied period of 2006 and 2023 alone, though some will have left the country or died. Marco Rubio, whose parents were both born in Cuba, would fall foul of the proposed new system Image: Eric Lee/REUTERS A number of prominent Americans were granted US citizenship at birth despite their parents not being citizens at the time, including many members of Trump's inner circle.
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