Overview
- Paul, who introduced the measure Thursday, said current law wrongly grants citizenship to anyone born on U.S. soil regardless of parents’ legal status.
- The draft text narrows who is “subject to the jurisdiction” of the U.S. to babies born to a citizen or national, a lawful permanent resident living in the U.S., or a noncitizen with lawful status serving in the Armed Forces.
- The Supreme Court heard arguments in April on Trump’s 2025 executive order that seeks to exclude children of people in the U.S. illegally or on visas from automatic citizenship, with a decision expected in the coming months.
- Paul framed his proposal as insurance if the Court does not rule as he hopes and praised Trump’s border actions while urging automatic citizenship only for children of legal residents.
- The 14th Amendment, adopted in 1868 after the Civil War, says people born or naturalized in the United States are citizens, a clause at the heart of today’s dispute over how far birthright citizenship extends.