Born In The U.S.A.: Protecting The Right Of Birthright Citizenship

CBS Bay Area

June 22, 2026

Birthright citizenship is spelled out in the first line of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution: "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."

It means everyone born in the United States is automatically a U.S. citizen at birth, said University of Virginia law professor Amanda Frost, regardless of any aspect of their parentage or lineage, "with very narrow exceptions, being for the children of diplomats and invading occupying armies. Everyone else is a citizen at birth."

Frost says there is no ambiguity about the Constitutional issue of this citizenship clause. But a poll by the Pew Research Center shows that the American public is pretty much evenly divided on whether citizenship should be granted at birth to the children of undocumented immigrants – 50 percent say yes, 49 percent say no.

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