You are correct. Section 1 of the 14th Amendment: âÂÂAll 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.âÂÂ
âÂÂSubject to the jurisdictionâ is a qualifier. If the authors intended anyone born on US soil to be a citizen, no qualifier would be necessary.
The fact that an alien is subject to our laws and our courts if they violate our laws does not place them within the political âÂÂjurisdictionâ of the United States. They are still subject to a foreign power.
As John Eastman, former dean of the Chapman School of Law has said, âÂÂthe distinction between partial, territorial jurisdiction, which subjects all who are present within the territory of a sovereign to the jurisdiction of that sovereignâÂÂs laws, and complete political jurisdiction, which requires allegiance to the sovereign as well.âÂÂ
Even American Indians and their children did not become citizens until Congress passed the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924. There would have been no need to pass such legislation if the 14th Amendment extended citizenship to every person born in America, no matter what the circumstances of their birth, and no matter who their parents are.
Simply being born in the US does not confer citizenship.
Because that qualifier is why children of diplomats are not considered citizens, for example.
Even American Indians and their children did not become citizens until Congress passed the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924. There would have been no need to pass such legislation if the 14th Amendment extended citizenship to every person born in America, no matter what the circumstances of their birth, and no matter who their parents are.
Even a cursory glance at the legislative and statutory history of this topic would show that for the longest time, Native Americans were not considered to be under the total jurisdiction of the United States, given the unique situation involving the status of the Indian territories and reservations. Hence why, once Congress passed legislation revising the jurisdictional relationship between the United States and the Indian tribes/reservations, the 14th Amendment's birthright provision became applicable to Native Americans going forward.
American Indians are an interesting case, as many tribes negotiated treaties with the United States and were, depending on the circumstances, considered to be nations.