On the first day of Donald Trump's second term as president, he signed an order about a long-standing U.S. rule: most people born in the country are citizens. Trump's order said this rule, based on the 14th Amendment, should no longer apply to children of people who are in the U.S. illegally or temporarily. Federal judges quickly blocked the order, but the final decision will likely be made by the Supreme Court.
The U.S. is one of many countries, mostly in the Western Hemisphere, that offers birthright citizenship. This is less common in Europe, Asia, and Africa. The U.S. stands out because it’s the largest country with this rule, with hundreds of thousands of babies born each year to noncitizen parents.
Birthright citizenship started after the Civil War to give citizenship to formerly enslaved Black people. Over time, this law also applied to children of immigrant parents. While today’s debate may seem new, the U.S. has argued about birthright citizenship before.
00:00 A rule
2:23 Jus soli
3:13 Dred Scott
4:46 The 14th Amendment
8:02 Wong Kim Ark
10:30 Another look at the 14th Amendment
Sources and further reading:
Garrett Epps’s law review article about the citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment has everything you’ll ever need to know about the history of birthright citizenship in the US article
The Library of Congress has a great map showing which countries of the world offer unconditional birthright citizenship like the US map
The 1861 map of the US we use a few times in the piece is itself a strikingly rich document that I could stare at forever 1861 map
Some other original documents we use in the piece:
Trump’s executive order on birthright citizenship EO 14106
The Ipsos poll containing the question about support for ending birthright citizenship for children of undocumented immigrants: IPSOS Survey
The Dred Scott decision article
President Andrew Johnson’s letter vetoing the 1866 Civil Rights Act article
Congress’s debates over the 14th Amendment (we quoted from page 498) debate
The 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act article
The Wong Kim Ark decision article
Vox.com is a news website that helps you cut through the noise and understand what's really driving the events in the headlines. Check out http://www.vox.com.
Also see:
Center for Civic Education: Birthright Citizenship part 5 of the Citizenship at the Founding playlist
Rep Ted Lieu: Birthright citizenship is as American as apple pie.
VOA Learning English: News Words: Executive Order | Birthright Citizenship
VOA News: What is birthright citizenship?
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