Brief filed in effort to restore Fourteenth Amendment, end birthright citizenship
America First Legal (AFL) is advocating for a return to what it calls the “original meaning” of the Fourteenth Amendment, arguing that children born in the United States to parents who are in the country illegally should not automatically be granted citizenship.
“Citizenship is not automatic, nor is it a right: it is earned through allegiance, consent, and law,” AFL said in a press release.
The nonprofit law firm emphasized that the Constitution’s Citizenship Clause “does not include ‘aliens or anyone owing allegiance to a foreign sovereignty,’” a principle AFL said courts and scholars have long recognized.
AFL, together with law firm Boyden Gray PLLC, recently filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of eighteen members of the House Judiciary Committee. The brief urges the Court “to defend the original meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment and the limits it places on U.S. citizenship.”
The organizations highlighted that children of foreign ambassadors or invading soldiers are not considered U.S. citizens because their parents owe allegiance to another nation. AFL argues the same principle should apply to children born to undocumented immigrants, who are in the country without the United States’ consent.
“This is not a question of compassion, but of constitutional order,” the release said. “Citizenship cannot be born of defiance, and allegiance cannot exist without consent.”
The brief also contends that citizenship depends on a reciprocal bond of loyalty: “When that consent is broken, citizenship cannot be claimed,” AFL said.
According to the release, the Fourteenth Amendment grants citizenship only to those born or naturalized in the United States who are “subject to its jurisdiction” – meaning full, exclusive allegiance and lawful presence, not simply location. AFL stressed that Congress, not the Constitution alone, has the authority to confer citizenship, and that it has never granted citizenship to children of illegal immigrants by statute.
Dan Epstein, vice president of AFL, said, “Our history and tradition stand for the proposition that citizenship depends upon a public determination of allegiance. Being subject to the country’s jurisdiction is not a default presumption. Citizenship is a duty, a bond, and a privilege reserved for those who are fully subject to our laws and sovereignty.”
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