{"id":17819,"date":"2018-11-02T15:47:03","date_gmt":"2018-11-02T19:47:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/live-immigrationreform.pantheonsite.io\/?p=17819"},"modified":"2018-12-28T09:34:30","modified_gmt":"2018-12-28T14:34:30","slug":"what-scotus-should-consider-about-birthright-citizenship-for-children-of-illegal-aliens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/2018\/11\/02\/what-scotus-should-consider-about-birthright-citizenship-for-children-of-illegal-aliens\/","title":{"rendered":"What SCOTUS Should Consider About Birthright Citizenship for Children of Illegal Aliens"},"content":{"rendered":"
After President Trump\u2019s bombshell announcement<\/a> that he intends to end the controversial policy of birthright citizenship for the children of illegal aliens, pundits immediately began offering their varied opinions on whether or not the executive branch can lawfully end the policy via executive action, and if birthright citizenship should extend to illegal aliens. However, the fact remains that any action attempting to end the policy \u2013 by anyone \u2013 will almost certainly be met with lawsuits and, ultimately, heard by the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS).<\/p>\n If the Supreme Court indeed decides to hear a case on birthright citizenship, there are several important questions that the justices should keep in mind:<\/p>\n The first sentence of the 14th<\/sup> Amendment to the U.S. Constitution reads: \u201cAll 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.\u201d Many illegal immigration apologists tout this text as an indisputable guarantee that the children of illegal aliens will be U.S. citizens if their parents are born in the United States.<\/p>\n However, many legal scholars note that Senator Jacob Howard, who introduced the 14th<\/sup> Amendment, seemed to indicate that birthright citizenship would not be extended to most foreigners. When introducing an amendment<\/a> to add the text \u201cand subject to the jurisdiction thereof,\u201d he noted: \u201cThis will not, of course, include persons born in the United States who are foreigners, aliens, who belong to the families of ambassadors or foreign ministers accredited to the Government of the United States, but will include every other class of persons.” After the question of Native Americans born within the U.S. was raised, he noted that they would not be included either so long as they maintained legal ties with their native tribe. So Senator Howard clearly intended, that in addition to the children of foreign diplomats, the children of other aliens who lack lawful and permanent status in the United States would also be excluded from the citizenship provisions of this amendment<\/p>\n\n