OPINION:
“Trump faces multiple defeats in fight against birthright citizenship” (Web, Feb. 23) reports that courts have rejected President Trump’s position that American-born children of illegal immigrants are not U.S. citizens. But the matter isn’t as simple as the courts suggest.
The 14th Amendment reads, in part: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States.” The courts hold that the “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” exception is limited to the children of diplomats and others immune from American law.
But under American law, American citizens living abroad must register for the draft, pay income tax on income earned abroad and are banned from bribing foreign officials. Assume a child born on American soil is deported with his illegal immigrant parents when he’s five days old. Half a century later, he’s 50 years old, hasn’t set foot on American soil since his deportation — but has never renounced American citizenship. Could he be indicted under American law for failing to register for the American draft, failing to pay American income taxes on income earned in his home country or bribing an official in his home country? If not, he would not be subject to American jurisdiction to the same extent as natural-born American citizens.
When it addresses birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment, the Supreme Court should address scenarios like this one.
JIM DUEHOLM
Washington
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