“every one that uses this argument glosses over the fact that under our laws at the time his parents could not become citizens.”
Tell me why this matters. Everyone I’ve seen use the Wong Kim Ark case to defend the idea that children born on U.S. soil are natural-born citizens recognizes that Wong’s parents were aliens. What are you getting at by saying “at the time his parents could not become citizens”? What is the difference between his parents simply not being citizens and his parents not being able to become citizens?
It matters for one simple reason.......jurisdiction.
Legal immigrants even those that are not allowed to become citizens like the Chinese at that time, are under the jurisdiction of the laws of the United States. They accepted the fact that they could not become American citizens, they were resident aliens and our laws allowed them to work here.
The point I have been making is that in order for the 14th amendment to apply to those wishing to be US citizens and natural born ones at that, both of their parents should be subject to not only the laws of our country but also to the jurisdiction as well, meaning that they cannot be here on any special visa diplomatic student or tourist where they have no intention on becoming United States Citizens or they cannot be here illegally to claim citizenship for their children born here when they refused to enter this country through our immigration processes.
Applying for legal immigration is the means of submitting to the jurisdiction of our government and it’s laws, those that do and have children here, then their children should be natural born citizens.
So how does this apply to Obama, his father chose not to immigrate to this country and had no intentions of becoming a US citizen, and since he arrived here on a student visa he was granted a limited immunity from our jurisdiction by treaty. I normally use the example that he did not have to pay income tax, but 1961 his limited immunity also protected him from being drafted into the Armed Forces as I am sure young men that were legal immigrants of the proper age were subject to.
As for his mother, her age was a factor especially since she was married to a Foreign National who was not going to apply for US citizenship, because she was not old enough to exercise her full citizenship rights under the law. Their divorce decree may have awarded her custody of her son but it certainly did not decide his citizenship.
We need to see a case where the child of a minor(US citizen) married to a Foreign National here on a Visa (diplomatic, student or Tourist)sued for the right to be considered Natural born, even if they were born outside the United States.