[Bob434]

[[Those who need to become a citizen after birth are not citizens at birth or by birth- and therefore are foreigners who have no right to citizenship-]]

Sorry, that hsoudl have read:

Those who need to become a citizen after birth are not citizens at birth or by birth- and therefore are foreigners who have no right to citizenship EXCEPT via a process of naturalization if they so choose to be naturalized here

[Ray76]

Citizenship conferred by statute is naturalization.

[Ray76]

Conflating “at” with “by” is a source of confusion and all too common.

“at” indicates a point in space or time

“by” indicates a causative agent

A person can be a citizen at birth either by statute or by nature.

Citizenship conferred by statute is naturalization.

[Ray76]

But citizenship by birth is established by the mere fact of birth under the circumstances defined in the constitution. Every person born in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, becomes at once a citizen of the United States, and needs no naturalization. A person born out of the jurisdiction of the United States can only become a citizen by being naturalized, either by treaty, as in the case of the annexation of foreign territory, or by authority of congress, exercised either by declaring certain classes of persons to be citizens, as in the enactments conferring citizenship upon foreign-born children of citizens, or by enabling foreigners individually to become citizens by proceedings in the judicial tribunals, as in the ordinary provisions of the naturalization acts. U.S. v. Wong Kim Ark, 169 U.S. 649, 702-703 (1898)