On Wednesday, April 1, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in what may be the most important case in decades. The court will now consider President Donald Trump’s executive order rejecting birthright citizenship for the children of illegal aliens, and the decision will have enormous political and economic consequences for every American.
But this vitally important matter must remain open and shut: the text and history of the Constitution are on the president’s side. Nothing in the Constitution requires the government to give citizenship to the children of illegal aliens.
The case centers on the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment, which states that “all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States.” The key phrase in dispute is “and subject to the jurisdiction thereof.” A clear reading of the grammar (“and”) shows that birthright citizenship requires two conditions, not just being born here.
Republicans in Congress passed the 14th Amendment in the aftermath of the Civil War to guarantee citizenship to freed slaves and their children. The same Republican Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which granted citizenship to “all persons born in the United States and not subject to any foreign power.” The statute’s author, Republican Senator Lyman Trumbull of Illinois, later explained of the amendment: “What do we mean by ‘subject to the jurisdiction of the United States’? Not owing allegiance to anyone else. That’s what it means.”
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Protesters gather outside the Supreme Court in Washington, DC, on May 15, 2025, in support of birthright rights. President Donald Trump’s executive order aims to limit protections for children of non-residents on U.S. soil. (Kent Nishimura/Bloomberg via Getty)
But illegal aliens are citizens of other countries who have appeared here in violation of the law. They owe allegiance to other countries, not to the United States. They do not meet this criterion.
The left claims that the children of illegal aliens are covered by this clause because of the 1898 Wong Kim Ark court ruling, which granted birthright citizenship to a young man whose parents were excluded by the Chinese Exclusion Act. However, the court’s ruling is based on English common law, which required that allegiance be born as a subject of the crown.
For example, the children of diplomats have never been given birthright rights because their parents owe allegiance to another country. Wong Kim Ark applies to children whose parents have a “permanent domicile” in the United States, who owe allegiance only to the United States.
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After the 14th Amendment, several secretaries of state even denied passports to children of tourists and other people who were not permanent residents. Illegal aliens do not have a ‘permanent place of residence’ here. Quite the opposite: under our laws they are subject to deportation.
The stakes for this case could not be higher. If the court gets it wrong and effectively creates an unlimited constitutional right for all potential illegal border crossings, the consequences will be catastrophic. Under the Biden administration, we already saw the rise of birth tourism among wealthy Chinese and Russians, not to mention the likely thousands – if not tens of thousands – of pregnant women who simply crossed the border illegally.
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If the left’s maximalist interpretation of the birthright of citizenship is enshrined in the Constitution, Biden’s border invasion will resemble a 5K charity. It is simply impossible that Reconstruction Republicans in 1866 thought they were voting for this.
According to a 2024 Gallup poll, more than 170 million people around the world want to immigrate to the United States, which would increase our population by half. If the court dismisses this case incorrectly, they can simply wait for a Democratic president, sneak across the border, and then be rewarded by making their children citizens entitled to a lifetime of free education, Medicaid, welfare, Section 8 housing, Medicare, and Social Security, not to mention the right to vote in our elections and set our nation’s policies.
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For example, the children of diplomats have never been given birthright rights because their parents owe allegiance to another country.
This would permanently and irreparably dilute the meaning of citizenship and give it to the children of people without ‘permanent residence’ and, more importantly, without allegiance to our republic or to our laws, customs and way of life. The only way to overturn such a ruling would be a constitutional amendment, which would be virtually politically impossible. A bad ruling in this case would change the meaning of citizenship forever.
American citizenship is among the greatest treasures in our world. Reconstruction The Republicans never intended to make it a universal right, but to grant it to the freed slaves for whom hundreds of thousands of fellow Americans had just given their lives. If the Supreme Court applies the 14th Amendment as written and understood by its Framers, it will protect the treasure of American citizenship for generations to come.
