Birthright Citizenship Act of 2015

H.R.140 - Birthright Citizenship Act of 2015, Rep. King, Steve [R-IA-4] (Introduced 01/06/2015)

Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to consider a person born in the United States "subject to the jurisdiction" of the United States for citizenship at birth purposes if the person is born in the United States of parents, one of whom is: (1) a U.S. citizen or national, (2) a lawful permanent resident alien whose residence is in the United States, or (3) an alien performing active service in the U.S. Armed Forces. This Act shall not be construed to affect the citizenship or nationality status of any person born before the date of its enactment.

H. R. 140

To amend section 301 of the Immigration and Nationality Act to clarify those classes of individuals born in the United States who are nationals and citizens of the United States at birth.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
January 6, 2015

Mr. King of Iowa (for himself, Mr. Duncan of Tennessee, and Mr. Brooks of Alabama) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To amend section 301 of the Immigration and Nationality Act to clarify those classes of individuals born in the United States who are nationals and citizens of the United States at birth.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. Short title.

This Act may be cited as the “Birthright Citizenship Act of 2015”.

SEC. 2. Citizenship at birth for certain persons born in the United States.

(a) In general.—Section 301 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1401) is amended—

(1) by inserting “(a) In general.—” before “The following”;

(2) by re-designating subsections (a) through (h) as paragraphs (1) through (8), respectively; and

(3) by adding at the end the following:

“(b) Definition.—Acknowledging the right of birthright citizenship established by section 1 of the 14th amendment to the Constitution, a person born in the United States shall be considered ‘subject to the jurisdiction’ of the United States for purposes of subsection (a)(1) if the person is born in the United States of parents, one of whom is—

“(1) a citizen or national of the United States;

“(2) an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence in the United States whose residence is in the United States; or

“(3) an alien performing active service in the armed forces (as defined in section 101 of title 10, United States Code).”.

(b) Applicability.—The amendment made by subsection (a)(3) shall not be construed to affect the citizenship or nationality status of any person born before the date of the enactment of this Act.

There are 27 Republican co-signers.

From Rick Hasen, a campaign finance regulation expert and professor of law and political science at UC-Irvine School of Law:

I cannot believe that if this country actually passed such a constitutional amendment (which thankfully would not happen in any case), that the Supreme Court would say it is invalid because it goes against the very amendment that the amendment overturned. As Derek Muller tweeted today, it is like saying the amendment overruling prohibition would be unconstitutional because of an existing amendment allowing prohibition. And I don’t think eliminating birthright citizenship would be such a profound change to the constitutional structure so as to be seen as an improper amendment to the Constitution.











NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker