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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.
Patently, this had nothing to do with illegal aliens or their children. To repeat: There was no federal concept of “illegal alien” at the time. There would, moreover, have been no reason to amend the Constitution for the purpose of dictating the status of the children of aliens. Congress had that covered: Its Article I power to prescribe terms of citizenship for aliens had never been in dispute; as noted at the start of this essay, Congress had been exercising that power since shortly after the Constitution went into effect.Share
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