President Donald Trump says wealthy foreigners are abusing birthright citizenship laws to secure American status for their children and later bring entire families into the United States.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
President Donald Trump says America’s birthright citizenship policy has become a loophole exploited by wealthy foreigners who use their U.S.-born children as a means to obtain permanent residency for extended family members. In an interview with Politico’s Dasha Burns, Trump said he hopes the Supreme Court overturns what he described as a misinterpretation of the 14th Amendment.
“The case is very interesting because that case was meant for the babies of slaves,” Trump said, referring to the historical intent of the policy. “That case was not meant for some rich person coming from another country, dropping… putting a foot in our country, and all of a sudden their whole family becomes, you know, United States citizens.”
Trump added that such abuses of the system have placed unsustainable strain on the nation’s housing, welfare, and education systems. “The U.S. cannot afford to house tens of millions of people that came in through birthright citizenship,” he said in remarks amplified in a tweet shared Tuesday.
The president’s comments follow revelations from Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-WI), who highlighted how wealthy Chinese nationals have used the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands to obtain U.S. citizenship for their children.
“Since 2009, Communist Chinese passport holders have been permitted to sidestep the U.S. visa requirements to enter the Northern Mariana Islands through categorical parole,” Tiffany testified during a House Judiciary Committee hearing. “There are more children being born via birth tourism on the Northern Mariana Islands right now than there are domestic children being born,” he said, noting that visitors “don’t even have to have a visa to come in here.”
According to the Center for Immigration Studies, roughly 225,000 to 250,000 “anchor babies” are born to illegal alien parents in the U.S. each year—about seven percent of all U.S. births. These children, once grown, can sponsor their parents and extended relatives for green cards, creating what Trump called a “generational pipeline” of migration.
The Supreme Court has never explicitly ruled that the children of illegal aliens must be granted citizenship under the 14th Amendment, leaving the question open to legal interpretation. Many constitutional scholars argue the amendment’s Citizenship Clause was intended only for those “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States—meaning lawful residents, not foreign nationals or temporary visitors.
As Trump continues pressing for judicial clarification, he has framed the issue as one of fairness and national sovereignty. “That case was all about the babies of slaves,” he said, “and it was a good reason for doing it. That’s all it was about—and people now are understanding it.”
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