“Natural born citizens are born here of citizen parents.”
I mentioned anchor baby. This has been going on for many years in states that are on our southern border. I was raised in California and have seen this practice all my life.
“Anchor baby” is a term used to refer to a child born to a non-citizen mother and father in a country that has birthright citizenship which will therefore help the mother and other family members gain legal residency like the US. If a child is born in US soil, it is considered a natural born citizen and a citizen of the state it resides.
Although eligibility for the Presidency was not an issue in any 19th-century litigation, there have been a few cases that shed light on the definitions of natural born and native born citizen. The leading case, Lynch v. Clarke of 1844, indicated that citizens born “within the dominions and allegiance of the United States” are citizens regardless of parental citizenship. This case dealt with a New York law (similar to laws of other states at that time) that only a U.S. citizen could inherit real estate. The plaintiff, Julia Lynch, had been born in New York while her parents, both British, were briefly visiting the U.S., and shortly thereafter all three left for Britain and never returned to the U.S. The New York Chancery Court determined that, under common law and prevailing statutes, she was a U.S. citizen by birth and nothing had deprived her of that citizenship, notwithstanding that both her parents were not U.S. citizens or that British law might also claim her through her parents’ nationality.
In the course of the decision, the court cited the Constitutional provision and said:
Suppose a person should be elected president who was native born, but of alien parents; could there be any reasonable doubt that he was eligible under the Constitution? I think not. The position would be decisive in his favor, that by the rule of the common law, in force when the Constitution was adopted, he is a citizen. Upon principle, therefore, I can entertain no doubt, but that by the law of the United States, every person born within the dominions and allegiance of the United States, whatever the situation of his parents, is a natural born citizen.
In the citizen clause of the 14th amendment, it does separate born in and natural born terminology:
“Adopted in 1868 and part of the “Reconstruction Amendments,” section 1 of the 14th Amendment provides that “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.”
So born in makes the child a citizen of the US with all the rights and privileges defined. And that includes the POTUS or VP position.
While in the military, conus, I had a subordinate that was requesting leave to go to Germany to visit his terminally ill grandmother. His father, at the time of the troop’s birth, was stationed at a US Air Force Base, active military, in Germany. His mother was a German citizen.
But when the troop was born, it was accomplished outside the base at a German hospital. He therefore was not a US citizen and if he went, he could not be allowed back into the country permanent but on a visa only. So he had to cancel the trip, and apply for US citizenship in place, getting a green card, and they ultimately allow him to acquire citizenship and the military records wee changed to reflect. It was a real headache as both parents were deceased and records from both countries were involved. And the only difference was that he was born on German land, his mother’s homeland, and not US, his father’s.
wy69
Why is it that you want foreigners to be eligible?
That is the opposite of what the founders intended.
John Jay to George Washington:
“Permit me to hint, whether it would be wise and seasonable to provide a strong check to the admission of Foreigners into the administration of our national Government; and to declare expressly that the Command in Chief of the American army shall not be given to nor devolve on, any but a natural born Citizen.”
The children of foreigners ARE foreigners, even if we foolishly give them citizenship.
The singularity of nationality is what the founders were requiring.