After the Civil War, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866 as a direct attempt to repeal Dred Scott`s decision and extend citizenship to freed slaves. For the first time in U.S. history, this law defines the parameters of birthright citizenship – “All persons born in the United States and who are not subject to any foreign power, with the exception of Indians who are not taxed, are declared citizens of the United States.” Turks and Caicos is a British Overseas Territory and citizenship by birth ended on 1 January 1983, the date of entry into force of the British Nationality Act 1981. [136] They also believe that the Wong Kim Ark decision was limited because Wong Kim Ark`s parents were legal in the United States at the time of his birth and the Elk decision was more about birthright citizenship, which gave birth to a child of illegal immigrant parents. They also refer to the language of the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which supports the argument that the children of illegal aliens are not under U.S. jurisdiction every hour. The legislative history of the Civil Rights Act and the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution makes it very clear that, although Congress attempted to extend birthright citizenship to freed slaves, it also attempted to exclude broad categories of people who maintained only qualified or limited loyalty to the nation. President Donald Trump`s initiative to end citizenship for children of undocumented immigrants will receive great attention in the coming weeks. Here`s a look at the fundamental argument on both sides of the problem. The same legislative history, which so clearly excludes tribal Indians from citizenship from the birthright, also shows that the citizenship clause does not cover children born in the United States to other people who owe the United States only minimal, qualified or temporary loyalty. And a central constitutional issue, which would be at stake in any judicial review, would be the need for a constitutional amendment and not an act of Congress or an implementing decree to resolve the issue.
In 2015, the Congressional Research Service addressed this issue by looking at the history of birthright laws in Congress. . . .
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