Researcher ORCID Identifier
https://orcid.org/0009-0004-2599-6139
Graduation Year
2026
Date of Submission
4-2026
Document Type
Open Access Senior Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Government
Reader 1
George Thomas
Terms of Use & License Information
Abstract
The Fourteenth Amendment’s Citizenship Clause has guaranteed birthright citizenship to all children born in the United States for hundreds of years. Yet, President Trump’s January 20, 2025, executive order threatens to strip that right from children born to parents unlawfully in the country and temporary visitors. This order, if permitted to stand, would change the definition of US citizenship and render countless children stateless persons without citizenship rights. This paper examines whether birthright citizenship in the US, properly understood, extends to children of unlawful immigrants and temporary visitors. To answer this question, three time periods of change in citizenship rights are analyzed sequentially. First, the original meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment, shown through the English common law, congressional debates, and Supreme Court cases, established the general rule of universal birthright citizenship. Second, subsequent court cases, such as US v. Wong Kim Ark, demonstrate how this general rule should be applied to later circumstances. Third, the competing briefs and oral argument in the current Supreme Court case, Trump v. Barbara, exemplify current arguments about the application of the Citizenship Clause to current immigration concerns.
The analysis finds that every major line of evidence cuts against the executive order. The Fourteenth Amendment constitutionalized a pre-existing common law rule of near-universal birthright citizenship, departing from it only for three narrow, well-defined categories: children of foreign diplomats, children born during hostile military occupation, and children of Native Americans. Unlawful immigrants fit none of these categories: they are subject to U.S. laws, can be sued in U.S. courts, and owe no formal allegiance to a competing sovereign. Therefore, the Citizenship Clause, properly understood, includes children of unlawful immigrants and temporary visitors.
Recommended Citation
Milbrodt, Jenna A., "From Dred Scott to Barbara: Birthright citizenship, racial exclusion, and the enduring promise of the Fourteenth Amendment" (2026). CMC Senior Theses. 4141.
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/4141
Included in
Constitutional Law Commons, Fourteenth Amendment Commons, Human Rights Law Commons, Immigration Law Commons, Jurisdiction Commons, Jurisprudence Commons, Legal History Commons, Supreme Court of the United States Commons, United States History Commons
