14th Amendment and Birthright Citizenship: Part 7: Immigration, Naturalization and Citizenship

This is an 8-part series on the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution and how it affects among other things, “birthright citizenship.” Today’s offering is: 14^th Amendment and Birthright Citizenship: Part 7: Immigration, Naturalization and Citizenship

Ed.

There are two methods available to become a citizen of the United States, birth or naturalization. Both methods have rules, all rules have procedures and guidelines, and all steps must be done legally.

The original requirement for citizenship in the United States was the concept of natural-born citizen, the requirement for eligibility of future Presidents, outlined in the Constitution. Naturalization was not enough to be President, for the Framers believed it was important to love the country by birth and parentage, as discussed by Emer Vattel in “The Law of Nations.”

As the newly founded Nation needed more people; there were no immigration laws, simply open borders. There was no illegal immigration as there were no laws restricting immigration.

The Naturalization Act of 1790 ⁽¹⁾ was signed into law during the first session of the 1^st Congress. The Naturalization Law stated that

“That any Alien being a free white person, who shall have resided within the limits and under the jurisdiction of the United States for the term of two years, may be admitted to become a citizen thereof on application to any common law Court of record in any one of the States wherein he shall have resided for the term of one year at least, and making proof to the satisfaction of such Court that he is a person of good character, and taking the oath or affirmation prescribed by law to support the Constitution of the United States, which Oath or Affirmation such Court shall administer, and the Clerk of such Court shall record such Application, and the proceedings thereon; and thereupon such person shall be considered as a Citizen of the United States. And the children of such person so naturalized, dwelling within the United States, being under the age of twenty one years at the time of such naturalization, shall also be considered as citizens of the United States.”

The law also clarified the definition of a Natural-Born citizen:

“And the children of citizens of the United States that may be born beyond Sea, or out of the limits of the United States, shall be considered as natural born Citizens: Provided, that the right of citizenship shall not descend to persons whose fathers have never been resident in the United States”

The United States was forming a society based on the tenets of liberty and religious freedom, the products of Western Civilization philosophy. Assimilation was understood, it was a melting pot of ideas, as 13 Original Colonies combined into a Nation with 13 individual States. The predominate race during that time was “white”, so naturalization involved whites of Northern and Western European descent. “Blacks” were in a different category, as were “red” natives who had their own distinct tribal codes.

The Nations population grew, as did citizenship through birth and naturalization. When adult immigrants became naturalized citizens, so did their children; while children born after their parents’ citizenship were either natural-born citizens having two American parents or native-born citizens having only one American parent. No child was granted citizenship without a parent who was a citizen. This satisfied the “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” phrase, for natural law dictated that citizenship passed from the parents to the baby.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has codified birth citizenship for new-born infants.⁽²⁾ There are six categories: the child is born with

Parents married with both parents being citizens
Parents married with only the father being a citizen
Parents married with only the mother being a citizen
Parents not married with both parents being citizens
Parents not married with only the father being a citizen
Parents not married with only the mother being a citizen

There are no categories for the granting of citizenship to children who do not have at least one U.S. citizen parent, even if the child’s parents are legally within the United States.

The Evolution of Immigration, Naturalization and Citizenship

The primary purpose of immigration is to make a Nation better in terms of knowledge, economics, and population; it is a selfish concept indeed protecting the Nation from overt change. Immigration requires common beliefs and aspirations, common cultures and languages, otherwise, the Nation could not “become a melting pot” in a timely manner, the Nation could fracture. There are other reasons for immigration as well, specifically the humanitarian concepts of refugees. ⁽³⁾ In the end, some legal immigrants become citizens if they fulfill the requirements and some legal immigrants remain legal immigrants.

The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, ending the Mexican War, was signed on February 2, 1848, and approved by the Senate. In section VIII, this treaty granted en masse U.S. citizenship to all Mexican nationals within the acquired territory if within one year they did not declare their intention to remain Mexican citizens.⁽⁴⁾

The second major change to citizenship eligibility was the 14^th Amendment, with the citizenship of freedmen – black African descendants.

As stated, immigration is selfish. The Burlingame Treaty ⁽⁵⁾ was signed in 1868 to allow unrestricted immigration of Chinese citizens, providing labor to build railroads and work in mines, but there were not “pathways” to citizenship. Later, the Page Act ⁽⁶⁾ barred undesirable people from immigrating. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 ⁽⁷⁾ suspended the immigration, marking another restriction as the government deemed there were to many Chinese, and none, by law, obtained citizenship. The border patrol started in 1904 to specifically intercept illegal Chinese immigrants at the Mexican border. ⁽¹⁶⁾

During this period, the requirement of “whiteness” for naturalization did not change; in 80 years there were over 50 court cases determining what “whiteness” meant. ⁽⁸⁾ Koreans, Japanese, Chinese, Native Americans and others were not white. Mexicans, Syrians and Armenians are white. Mixed races were typically deemed not white.

Wong Kim Ark

Going against the prevailing definitions of obtaining citizenship by birth or naturalization, the Supreme Court in 1898 produced a remarkable decision in United States v. Wong Kim Ark.

Wong had the appropriate papers ⁽¹⁰⁾ to leave and return to California, for he was a legal resident. He left to find a bride in China. His return to San Francisco was denied, as the law restricted Chinese immigration.

Wong Kim Ark was born in California, but he was not a citizen as his parents could not be citizens by codified statute. Wong’s parents,^(12)(13) who had permanent domicile and residence within the United States when he was born, did not stay in America after his birth. Wong was raised in China, until he returned to California as a teenager to work with his uncle, before immigration from China was restricted.

The case went to the Supreme Court, who in a 6-2 ruling:

“A child born in the United States, of parents of Chinese descent, who, at the time of his birth, are subjects of the Emperor of China, but have a permanent domicile and residence in the United States, and are there carrying on business, and are not employed in any diplomatic or official capacity under the Emperor of China, becomes at the time of his birth a citizen of the United States, by virtue of the first clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution,” ⁽¹¹⁾

Wong’s parents could not be naturalized due to the “whiteness” decisions that defined Chinese as not eligible for naturalization. Some 20 years after the “Ark” Supreme Court decision, another Supreme Court affirmed that certain immigrants from different areas of Asia were not eligible for naturalization, they were only entitled to permanent residency. ⁽¹³⁾

Other Acts

In 1924, the Indian Citizenship Act ⁽⁹⁾ was passed, finally recognizing that Native Americans were citizens of the United States. This was not deemed naturalization.

The Immigration and Nationality Act, ⁽¹⁴⁾ sponsored by Senator Ted Kennedy, completely changed immigration. There were no more national origin quotas, and it flipped the preference from Nations that shared America’s values, to many Nations that held truly different values. And for the first time, family unification, or chain migration, was established.

Naturalization Ceremony

One of the great celebrations is when a friend becomes a citizen. The oath has two parts – the first requires that the candidate renounces all citizenship, leaving the candidate in limbo, without any citizenship to any Nation, until they recite the second part – embracing the citizenship of the United States.

I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, State, or sovereignty, and particularly to __________ of who (which) I have heretofore been a subject (or citizen); that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion: So help me God. In acknowledgment whereof I have hereunto affixed my signature.” ⁽¹⁵⁾

There are few happenings that are more important than a Naturalization process.

If you enjoyed this article, then please REPOST or SHARE with others; encourage them to follow AFNN. If you’d like to become a citizen contributor for AFNN, contact us at managingeditor@afnn.us Help keep us ad-free by donating here.

Substack: American Free News Network Substack
Truth Social: @AFNN_USA
Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/afnnusa
Telegram: https://t.me/joinchat/2_-GAzcXmIRjODNh
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AfnnUsa
GETTR: https://gettr.com/user/AFNN_USA
CloutHub: @AFNN_USA

Post Views: 265

Leave a Comment Cancel reply