8 U.S.C. is a statute or “ACT” passed by Congress as part of the U.S. Code (like the IRS Code is an ACT):
U.S. Code: Title 8 - ALIENS AND NATIONALITY
Otherwise cited as: Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C.)
and for this discussion, specifically Section 301(a) of the Act, 8 U.S.C.
This ACT does not ‘apply to’ the Constituion, but is created by Congress under the authority thereof.
Article 1, Section 8 (Powers of Congress) of the U.S. Constitution gives Congress the power:
“To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;”
and is one of the specific powers granted to Congress.
http://www.usconstitution.net/xconst_A1Sec8.html
However, the Constitution does NOT give Congress the power to change the definition of “Natural Born Citizen”.
8 USC is a compilation of all the Acts (statutes) passed by Congress on the subject of Immigration, Naturalization & Nationality
http://uscode.house.gov/codification/legislation.shtml;jsessionid=3EA9EAAC6FB75030A18B28757F339971
A positive law title of the Code is itself a Federal statute. A non-positive law title of the Code is an editorial compilation of Federal statutes. ... The distinction is legally significant. Non-positive law titles are prima facie evidence of the law, but positive law titles constitute legal evidence of the law in all Federal and State courts (1 U.S.C. 204).
http://uscode.house.gov/browse/prelim@title8&edition=prelim#.xhtml
* This title has been enacted as positive law. However, any Appendix to this title has not been enacted as part of the title
Both Title 8 & Title 26 do not have the * before them, therefore they are but a compilation of all the statutes that have been passed. They are an outline per say, one must go to the statute for further clarification of any given part of the code.
Therefore, one cannot go into a court of law and just cite 8 USC, Section 1401 (a), they must go to the actual statute at large and pull the language from the actual statute which is what I repeatedly do and the most current statute on the subject when Ted Cruz came to the US states that Ted was recognized as a “non-quota” immigrant and thus the reason he will not release his records. Same for Rubio because that same law governed his nationality at birth and the statute also states that all children born to Cuban refuges in the United States are aliens at birth.
Since naturalization is part of the 14th Amendment, then 8 USC, Section 1401 would contain both types of citizenship, A1 & A2, natural born and naturalization, both of which require exclusive allegiance to the United States either at birth or naturalization in the United States, they both occur “IN” the United States and that is why, although the law allows benefits to a child born to an American abroad that are retroactive back to the time of birth, the US only has power and authority to grant US citizenship within the jurisdiction (borders) of the United States.