We can quibble about how long this policy has been in place, but actual practice has been the rule for a long, long time. Children presenting a US birth certificate to get a passport has been in place long before the 1960s. The citizenship and legality of the parents were not questioned.
It was only in 1856 that Congress decided that the State Department would be the sole authority to issue passports. Before that, the states and cities were issuing passports.
From 1789 through late 1941, the constitutionally established government required passports of citizens only during two periods: during the American Civil War (1861–1865), as well as during and shortly after World War I (1914–1918). The passport requirement of the Civil War era lacked statutory authority. During World War I (1914–1918), European countries instituted passport requirements. The Travel Control Act of May 22, 1918, permitted the president, when the United States was at war, to proclaim a passport requirement, and President Wilson issued such a proclamation on August 18, 1918. World War I ended on November 11, 1918, but the passport requirement lingered until March 3, 1921, the last day of the Wilson administration.
The contemporary period of required passports for Americans under United States law began on November 29, 1941. A 1978 amendment to the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 made it unlawful to enter or depart the United States without an issued passport even in peacetime.
Even when passports were not usually required, Americans requested U.S. passports. Records of the Department of State show that 130,360 passports were issued between 1810 and 1873, and that 369,844 passports were issued between 1877 and 1909. Some of those passports were family passports or group passports. A passport application could cover, variously, a wife, a child, or children, one or more servants, or a woman traveling under the protection of a man. The passport would be issued to the man. Similarly, a passport application could cover a child traveling with his or her mother. The passport would be issued to the mother. The number of Americans who traveled without passports is unknown.
Today, primary proof of US citizenship to obtain a passport includes either a US birth certificate or a Consular Report of Birth Abroad or Naturalization certificate.
“Morphed into the children of illegal aliens and tourists...”— Morphed does not = law.
It’s high time to morph the 14th A back to its original intent which is just and practical for the survival of America.
MAGA
While you call it quibbling for the time frame that illegal aliens began raping America over misinterpretation of immigration law, many here would see this as morphing policy born of ‘Quisling Kennedy.’
“Quisling” (Kwiz lin); a term originating in Norway, a person who collaborates with an enemy occupying force – or more generally as a synonym for traitor.
“Kennedy” (Ken na dee); the fat fornicating whale of the Senate who single handedly did more to subvert and undermine sound US immigration policy in order to save the democrat party from eventually dissolving.