1、CRS Legal Sidebar Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress Legal SidebarLegal Sidebari i The Citizenship Clause and “Birthright Citizenship”: A Brief Legal Overview November 1, 2018 President Trump indicated in a recent interview that he plans to issue an executive order that will limit recog
2、nition of birthright citizenship to exclude the children of certain aliens, including presumably unlawfully present aliens. Absent a concrete proposal from the Trump Administration, CRS cannot analyze the idea in detail. However, the issue of birthright citizenship has come into public focus and is
3、likely to be of interest to Congress going forward. Under federal law, nearly all people born in the United States become citizens at birth. This rule is known as “birthright citizenship,” and it derives from both the Constitution and complementary statutes and regulations. The Citizenship Clause of
4、 the Fourteenth Amendment states 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.” The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), in turn, declares certain persons to be U.S. citiz
