[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4864 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4864

To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to clarify the application 
           of birthright citizenship, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 25, 2023

     Mr. Gaetz (for himself, Mr. Gosar, Mr. Santos, and Mr. Biggs) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                             the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to clarify the application 
           of birthright citizenship, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``End Birthright Citizenship Fraud Act 
of 2023''.

SEC. 2. PURPOSE.

    The purpose of this Act is to recognize the principle of limited 
jus soli conveyed in the 14th Amendment and codified in the Immigration 
and Nationality Act through the statement, ``subject to the 
jurisdiction thereof'', and reform United States immigration law to be 
consistent with the statement's original meaning by denying automatic 
citizenship at birth to children born in the United States to parents 
who are not United States nationals, aliens lawfully admitted to the 
United States as refugees, aliens lawfully admitted for permanent 
residence, or aliens performing active service in the United States 
Armed Forces.

SEC. 3. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Naturalization is an exclusive power of Congress, as 
        stated in article I, section 8, clause 4 of the Constitution, 
        ``The Congress should have power . . . To establish an uniform 
        Rule of Naturalization . . .''.
            (2) The phrase ``subject to the jurisdiction thereof'' as 
        stated in the Immigration and Nationality Act, references the 
        same statement found in section 1 of the 14th Amendment, and 
        carries the same meaning.
            (3) The phrase ``subject to the jurisdiction thereof'' is a 
        legal term of art, derived from concepts related to a limited 
        jus soli, and understood by the drafters of the 14th Amendment 
        to have its basis in English common law, which in turn has its 
        basis in Roman law.
            (4) Bartolus de Saxoferrato, a 14th-century Italian and one 
        of the first legal scholars to study the Roman concept of the 
        acquisition of citizenship, civilitas civilatis, as deduced 
        from the Corpus Juris Civilis, determined that a Roman citizen 
        by birth, civis ab origine, was one who had been born within 
        the territory of the state and to at least one parent who was 
        already a citizen of the state.
            (5) In the earliest known case to articulate jus soli in 
        England, Calvin v. Smith (Calvin's Case), it was agreed that 
        the statuses of ``subject'' and ``alien'' were determined by 
        whether a person was born owing allegiance to the sovereign, as 
        indicated by the Latin phrase ad fidem regis.
            (6) Sir Edward Coke, one of the judges deciding Calvin's 
        Case, extrapolated one exception to jus soli, writing, ``But if 
        enemies should come into any of the King's dominions, and 
        surprise any castle or fort, and possess the same by hostility, 
        and have issue there, that issue is no subject to the King, 
        though he be born within his dominions, for that he was not 
        born under the King's ligeance or obedience. But the time of 
        his birth us of the essence of a subject born; for he cannot be 
        a subject to the King of England, unless at the time of his 
        birth he was under the ligeance and obedience of the King.''.
            (7) Whether a person at birth is under the ligeance and 
        obedience to the sovereign is not determined by whether his 
        foreign parent is subject to the territorial jurisdiction of 
        prosecution, as any foreign enemy, marauder or bandit, would be 
        subject to the law of the land when captured, but, instead, 
        whether his parent is present in the territory lawfully and 
        permanently, not only voluntarily availing himself to the 
        jurisdiction thereof, but doing so with the consent of the 
        sovereign.
            (8) Senator Howard, when proposing language to be included 
        in the 14th Amendment and making reference to English common 
        law exceptions, clarified his intent that citizenship should 
        not be conveyed to everyone born or present in the United 
        States, when he stated, ``This will not, of course, include 
        persons born in the United States who are foreigners, aliens, 
        who belong to the families of ambassadors or foreign ministers 
        accredited to the Government of the United States, but will 
        include every other class of persons''.
            (9) Senator Lyman Trumbull, a key figure in the adoption of 
        the 14th Amendment, said that ``subject to the jurisdiction'' 
        of the United States meant not owing allegiance to any other 
        country.
            (10) Owing allegiance to the United States and being 
        subject to its complete jurisdiction means being ``not subject 
        to any foreign power'' and excludes those only temporarily 
        present in the country whether lawfully or unlawfully.
            (11) The 14th Amendment's framers intended to give 
        citizenship only to those who owed their allegiance to the 
        United States and were subject to its complete jurisdiction, 
        primarily the newly freed slaves, who were lawful permanent 
        residents.
            (12) The 1866 Civil Rights Act further clarified that the 
        14th Amendment did not apply to temporary visitors or those who 
        remained the citizen or subject of a parent's home country when 
        it stated, ``All persons born or naturalized in the United 
        States, and not subject to any foreign power, excluding Indians 
        not taxed, are hereby declared to be citizens of the United 
        States.''.
            (13) American Indians and their children did not become 
        citizens until Congress passed the Indian Citizenship Act of 
        1924, which would have been redundant if the 14th Amendment 
        extended citizenship to every person born in the United States, 
        no matter what the circumstances of their birth or parentage.
            (14) Since the inception of the 14th Amendment, the Supreme 
        Court has never interpreted the 14th Amendment to extend 
        birthright citizenship to the children of any class of 
        individuals who are not citizens themselves, or lawful 
        permanent residents.
            (15) Congressional intent and understanding of its ability 
        to legislate naturalization within the original public meaning 
        of the 14th Amendment is clear and apparent as evidenced by 
        legislation.
            (16) The current concept of unqualified birthright 
        citizenship is inconsistent with the history and meaning of the 
        14th Amendment and has been granted far too broadly in recent 
        decades, enabling fraud and civilizational altering levels of 
        immigration spurred by persons who have illegally crossed our 
        borders to obtain citizenship for their children under the 
        misinterpretation of the 14th Amendment.
            (17) The United States is one of two developed nations that 
        currently grants automatic citizenship so expansively to 
        children born within its borders.
            (18) Unqualified birthright citizenship provides a strong 
        incentive for illegal immigrants to cross the southern border 
        of the United States. When their child is born on United States 
        soil, the family can return to their home country, and 21 years 
        later, the family may return as a part of chain migration not 
        subject to the numerical limitations by which we control most 
        international migration.
            (19) Illegal immigrants who crossed into the United States 
        to give birth, often return to Mexico, sending their children 
        across the border daily to attend American public schools, 
        crowding out American students and taking advantage of American 
        tax dollars.
            (20) Apprehensions of persons attempting to enter the 
        United States illegally at the southern border of the United 
        States surpassed 2,300,000 in fiscal year 2022 and has been 
        increasing exponentially since 2020, and steadily since 1980.
            (21) Millions of illegal immigrants have at least one child 
        who is deemed a citizen under the erroneous interpretation of 
        the 14th Amendment. Estimates show that most children of 
        unauthorized immigrants are citizens by birth, and the number 
        has been increasing exponentially since 2003.
            (22) Unqualified birthright citizenship has enabled an 
        entire black market. Estimates show that birth tourism results 
        in 33,000 births to women on tourist visas annually, and 
        hundreds of thousands more are born to mothers who are illegal 
        aliens or present on temporary visas, many of whom have 
        misrepresented the purpose of their trip to avoid scrutiny.
            (23) The birth tourism industry is rampant in the United 
        States territories, with more annual births to foreign visitors 
        than native residents in the Commonwealth of the Northern 
        Marianas Islands.
            (24) The Government Accountability Office has found the 
        fiscal impact of providing public benefits to illegal aliens, 
        noting that--
                    (A) illegal aliens and their United States children 
                are eligible to receive emergency Medicaid services, 
                primary and secondary education, school nutrition 
                services, Aid to Families with Dependent Children 
                (AFDC), and food stamp benefits;
                    (B) cost data are not readily available because 
                illegal aliens are not required to reveal their 
                eligibility to receive certain benefits, and officials 
                are often prohibited from inquiring about the status of 
                illegal aliens;
                    (C) the total costs of providing benefits to 
                illegal aliens is unknown due to Federal and State cost 
                data limitations;
                    (D) the estimated cost of providing AFDC benefits 
                to children of illegal aliens was $479,000,000 for 
                1992;
                    (E) of the 5 States that account for about 80 
                percent of the illegal immigrant population, California 
                provided the most benefits totaling $2,900,000,000;
                    (F) the cost of providing benefits to illegal 
                aliens is expected to increase some program costs; and
                    (G) the complete fiscal impact of providing 
                benefits to illegal aliens cannot be determined, since 
                government revenues attributable to illegal aliens are 
                unknown.

SEC. 4. CLARIFICATION OF BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP.

    Section 101 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101) 
is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(j) For purposes of section 301(a), the term `subject to the 
jurisdiction thereof' means, with respect to a person born in the 
United States, that the person was born to a parent who is, at the time 
of the person's birth--
            ``(1) a national of the United States;
            ``(2) a refugee;
            ``(3) an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence; 
        or
            ``(4) an alien performing active service in the armed 
        forces (as defined in section 101 of title 10, United States 
        Code).''.

SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    The amendments made by this Act shall apply to persons born on or 
after the date of the enactment of this Act.
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