Representative Fuller Proposes Constitutional Amendment to End Birthright Citizenship for Undocumented Families

About 260,000 babies born in the U.S. in 2023 would not have qualified for automatic citizenship under a policy like S.J.Res. 189 — roughly 1 in 14 of all 3.6 million U.S. births that year

5.5 million U.S.-born children currently live in households with at least one undocumented resident — all citizens under existing law

The Supreme Court established in 1898 (United States v. Wong Kim Ark) that the 14th Amendment grants birthright citizenship to children born on U.S. soil to non-citizen parents — a precedent that has stood for 126 years

To become law, S.J.Res. 189 must clear a two-thirds vote in both chambers of Congress and then be ratified by 38 of 50 state legislatures — the same bar every constitutional amendment must meet

Approximately 33 countries currently offer unconditional birthright citizenship; the U.S. is one of them — most are in the Americas, while Europe and most of Asia do not grant citizenship by birth alone