Birthright Citizenship

Nigel Piddlewhite arrives in the US as an exchange student from York, England, to attend the University of Nebraska.  To his great delight, he meets Fiona Feversham who happens to be from Leeds, England.  Both are freshman and quickly hit it off.  By their sophomore year, they have married and have a son, Algernon Piddlewhite.  Upon graduation, Nigel and Fiona return to England with young Algernon to begin careers and have another child.  Life is great and Algernon soon has a younger brother and sister.  On his 18th birthday, an official-looking letter arrives from America!  It is a request for him to enroll in Selective Services.  Is he legally obligated to do so?  Might an effort to extradite him be made if he failed to enroll?  Is Algernon an American citizen?  Certainly, neither of his parents are American citizens.  Nor are his siblings.

Maria Cortes is 6 months pregnant when she pays a coyote to get her across the US border into Arizona.  She has cousins in Tucson who support her until she has the baby.  Little Ximena is a healthy baby girl.  However, ICE has grabbed Maria and want to deport her.  Immigration lawyers declared the Ximena is an American citizen and the US must let her mother stay to raise her.  Is Ximena an American citizen or is she the same nationality as her mother who just happened to be born in another country?

The 14th Amendment states 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

Was it the intent of the authors of this amendment to provide such a path to citizenship?  It must be remembered that this amendment was passed in the wake of the Civil War and with the intent of countering the Dred Scott Decision.  The 13th abolished slavery and the 15th provided the vote regardless of race.  The 14th granted citizenship to former slaves.  What was meant to be a one-and-done granting of citizenship has somehow morphed into birthright citizenship for the children of whomever can get across the border and give birth.

President Trump has signed an executive order that will see this issue hashed out in the courts in the near future.