For 157 years, citizenship has made people born in the United States citizens. Whether it’s a citizen’s child, a foreigner who legally lives in the United States or an unauthorized immigrant.
Earlier this year, President Trump signed an executive order, which was established in 1868 by the 14th Amendment, sought to limit this right. The Supreme Court heard the debate on Thursday (May 15th).
Changes to birthrights laws will affect a large part of the US population. According to 2023 data from the US Census, 22.8 million foreign-born non-US citizens live in the country.
How many people gain citizenship through birthrights?
Estimates from the Institute for Immigration Policy and the Institute of Population in Pennsylvania show that by ending birthright citizenship, an average of 255,000 children born in the United States without citizenship each year, increasing the amount of unauthorized immigrants living in the United States to 2075 million seconds.
In 2022, the Pew Research Center discovered that approximately 4.4 million US-born children under the age of 18 live with unauthorized immigrant parents.
How many unauthorized immigrants do they live in the US?
According to estimates from the Pew Research Center, the number of unauthorized immigrants in the United States peaked at 12.2 million between 1990 and 2007.
Where does the foreign-born population live in the United States?
In 2022, almost a quarter of the US-born population lived in California. The foreign-born population accounts for more than 20% of the total population of New Jersey, New York, California and Florida, according to the Census Bureau.
Foreign-born residents refer to people born outside the United States, such as naturalized US citizens, legal permanent residents, and temporary immigrants such as international students, humanitarian immigrants such as refugees, temporary immigrants such as fraudulent immigrants, and fraudulent immigrants.
In almost every state, 2022 had a larger foreign-born population than 2010. Delaware, North Dakota, South Dakota and West Virginia experienced the largest increase in foreign-born populations between 2010 and 2022, with bumps of over 40% in each state.
The US foreign-born population has grown over the past 50 years. In 1970, 4.7% of the US population was born outside the US by 2022, and 13.9% of the US population was born foreign.
Where do foreign-born Americans migrate from?
More than half of the US foreign-born residents migrated from Latin American countries, according to the Census Bureau. Nearly a third of the residents have moved from Asia.
What is naturalization?
The Council of Foreign Relations describes naturalization as a process by which non-citizens can apply for citizenship, such as passing citizen tests, demonstrating basic English proficiency, and demonstrating life in America over an ongoing period.
As of 2023, nearly 25 million foreign-born Americans were naturalized citizens. The rest includes both legal residents and fraudulent immigrants.
Which countries grant birthright citizenship?
According to a map of the World Population Review Map around the World, at least 35 countries offer birthright citizenship to those born within border areas.
What’s next?
The Trump administration tried to persuade the Supreme Court on May 15 to broadly enforce the president’s new rules that end birthright citizenship for some, but several lower courts have said his executive order is probably unconstitutional.
During the Supreme Court debate, several judges have expressed concern about the use of national injunctions, but President Donald Trump’s Attorney General John Saurer faced a pushback this week on whether it would be appropriate to limit the injunction in this case.
The government said Trump’s policy should be effective for those who are not willing to challenge it, but some justices have questioned the practical effectiveness of the patchwork scenario. And they proposed that the administration avoided asking the Supreme Court to directly control the policy, knowing they were going to lose.
The judge is expected to take control by the end of June.
read more:
Countries in the Americas grant birthright citizenship. What happens if they cancel it?
A key takeaway from the historic Supreme Court’s natural citizenship debate
Contributions: Lauren Villaglan, Maureen Grop, Bad Jansen
