Born to Be Free: The Citizenship Clause and Children of Undocumented Immigrants

Written By Seonbin Song

Edited by Alexandra Portmann Munoz and Eryn Rhodes

The history of citizenship in the United States is extensive and dynamic. The bedrock of modern jus soli doctrine—citizenship by birthright—was first established in response to Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857). The promises of the Fourteenth Amendment were initially intended to grant citizenship to freedmen alone, however, and so the status of children of undocumented immigrants was left unsettled. The Supreme Court’s decision in United States v. Wong Kim Ark (1898) ultimately answered this conundrum and affirmed birthright citizen rights for the children of undocumented immigrants and non-citizen parents. Though critics of birthright citizenship now dispute Wong Kim Ark’s interpretation of the citizenship clause, longstanding precedent and policy on birthright citizenship will render its overturn an astronomical undertaking.