Fact-checking the Trump administration's challenges to birthright citizenship

By — Tim Sullivan, Associated Press Tim Sullivan, Associated Press Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/fact-checking-the-trump-administrations-challenges-to-birthright-citizenship Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Fact-checking the Trump administration's challenges to birthright citizenship Politics Jun 30, 2026 9:58 AM EDT When it comes to birthright citizenship, the Trump administration hasn't been subtle about its views. The practice, which grants automatic citizenship to nearly everyone born on U.S. soil and which is soon to face Supreme Court judgment, is "a disgrace," according to President Donald Trump. WATCH: Analyzing the arguments as Supreme Court hears birthright citizenship case "The gravest and most preposterous of all constitutional abominations," top White House adviser Stephen Miller wrote on X. Educate your inbox Subscribe to Here’s the Deal, our politics newsletter for analysis you won’t find anywhere else. "The dumbest immigration policy in the world," Vice President JD Vance said in 2025. "You know, we're the only country that has it," Trump said in one interview, a claim he has made repeatedly. And falsely. The Supreme Court is expected to address the issue Tuesday, ruling on a Trump executive order that would upend more than a century of constitutional and legal history. "It's all up to a couple of people," he told reporters recently. "I hope they do what's right." Here's a closer look at the facts. Birthright citizenship became law in 1868 Birthright citizenship became law in 1868 when the 14th Amendment was ratified in the aftermath of the Civil War, in part to ensure that former slaves would be citizens. In the late 1800s, in the case of Wong Kim Ark, a man born in the U.S. to Chinese parents, it was expanded to include children of immigrants. In later cases, the Supreme Court ruled that anyone born in the U.S. is a citizen, including if their parents are in the U.S. illegally or temporarily. There are a tiny number of exceptions, mostly for children born in the U.S. to foreign diplomats. It became an accepted part of U.S. jurisprudence and, until Trump, few saw it as controversial. READ MORE: Fact-checking Trump on birthright citizenship and birth tourism before Supreme Court hears arguments That's not surprising, since until fairly recently even many Republicans spoke warmly about immigration. Recent immigrants "have crawled over walls and under barbed wire and through mine fields" to reach the U.S., President Ronald Reagan said at a 1984 naturalization ceremony in Detroit for new citizens. "And all of them have added to the sum total of what your new country is." Trump casts birthright citizenship as a 'magnet for illegal immigration' Opposition to immigration has long been central to Trump's campaigns, and he has tapped into public frustration with issues like soaring illegal border crossings during the Biden administration, when bo