US birthright citizenship fight puts visa families at centre of debate

The citizenship rights of US-born children of temporary visa holders came under renewed scrutiny as Republican lawmakers advocated restrictions and Democrats said the 14th Amendment guaranteed citizenship at birth.

During a House Judiciary subcommittee hearing on birthright citizenship, Republicans urged Congress to act after the Supreme Court overturned President Donald Trump’s executive order. Democrats argued that the court had settled the constitutional question.

Republican subcommittee chairman Chip Roy said Congress should define the phrase “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” in the amendment.

“It is up to Congress to define, subject to the jurisdiction thereof, to put a stop to birth tourism and to uphold the integrity of what it means to be an American citizen,” Roy said.

Arguing that the amendment was not intended to grant automatic citizenship to children born to undocumented immigrants or temporary visitors, Roy said the Supreme Court had wrongly relied on its 1898 Wong Kim Ark decision.

That case involved the US-born child of immigrants who were legally and permanently domiciled in the country, Roy said.

Rosemary Jenks, co-founder and policy director of the Immigration Accountability Project, told the panel that the ruling did not prevent lawmakers from acting.

“The Supreme Court’s decision in Barbara overturned an executive order. It did not strip Congress of its constitutional plenary power over immigration and naturalisation,” Jenks said.

She urged Congress to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to establish exceptions for children born to undocumented immigrants and temporary residents.

Jenks proposed rules affecting non-immigrant visa holders seeking welfare benefits on behalf of their US-born children. She said such parents should be required to designate a US citizen or lawful permanent resident to receive the benefits for the child.

“American citizenship is a precious commodity,” Jenks said. “Our government must zealously protect US citizenship and ensure it is only granted to aliens we have legally invited to permanently join our American community.”

Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach asserted that Congress retained the authority to act. He said the Supreme Court had ruled against a broad executive order but had not declared every possible statute on the question unconstitutional.

Kobach said a narrower law dealing with birth tourism could produce a different result before the court.

Democrats strongly disputed those arguments. Representative Mary Gay Scanlon, the subcommittee’s ranking Democrat, said children born in the United States to undocumented immigrants and visa holders were protected by the amendment.

“The American children of undocumented immigrants and the American children of visa holders are persons born here in America,” Scanlon said.

She said they were subject to US law from birth and had “an undeniable constitutional claim to the rights, duties and protections of that reciprocal relationship.”

(Except the headline, this article has not been edited by Education Post)