I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4864 

To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to clarify the application 

of birthright citizenship, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 25, 2023 

Mr. GAETZ (for himself, Mr. GOSAR, Mr. SANTOS, and Mr. BIGGS) introduced 

the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to clarify 

the application of birthright citizenship, and for other 

purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘End Birthright Citi5 zenship Fraud Act of 2023’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 

7 The purpose of this Act is to recognize the principle 

8 of limited jus soli conveyed in the 14th Amendment and 

9 codified in the Immigration and Nationality Act through 

10 the statement, ‘‘subject to the jurisdiction thereof’’, and 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
2 

•HR 4864 IH

1 reform United States immigration law to be consistent 

2 with the statement’s original meaning by denying auto3 matic citizenship at birth to children born in the United 

4 States to parents who are not United States nationals, 

5 aliens lawfully admitted to the United States as refugees, 

6 aliens lawfully admitted for permanent residence, or aliens 

7 performing active service in the United States Armed 

8 Forces. 

9 SEC. 3. FINDINGS. 

10 Congress finds the following: 

11 (1) Naturalization is an exclusive power of Con12 gress, as stated in article I, section 8, clause 4 of 

13 the Constitution, ‘‘The Congress should have power 

14 . . . To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization 

15 . . .’’. 

16 (2) The phrase ‘‘subject to the jurisdiction 

17 thereof’’ as stated in the Immigration and Nation18 ality Act, references the same statement found in 

19 section 1 of the 14th Amendment, and carries the 

20 same meaning. 

21 (3) The phrase ‘‘subject to the jurisdiction 

22 thereof’’ is a legal term of art, derived from concepts 

23 related to a limited jus soli, and understood by the 

24 drafters of the 14th Amendment to have its basis in 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
3 

•HR 4864 IH

1 English common law, which in turn has its basis in 

2 Roman law. 

3 (4) Bartolus de Saxoferrato, a 14th-century 

4 Italian and one of the first legal scholars to study 

5 the Roman concept of the acquisition of citizenship, 

6 civilitas civilatis, as deduced from the Corpus Juris 

7 Civilis, determined that a Roman citizen by birth, 

8 civis ab origine, was one who had been born within 

9 the territory of the state and to at least one parent 

10 who was already a citizen of the state. 

11 (5) In the earliest known case to articulate jus 

12 soli in England, Calvin v. Smith (Calvin’s Case), it 

13 was agreed that the statuses of ‘‘subject’’ and 

14 ‘‘alien’’ were determined by whether a person was 

15 born owing allegiance to the sovereign, as indicated 

16 by the Latin phrase ad fidem regis. 

17 (6) Sir Edward Coke, one of the judges decid18 ing Calvin’s Case, extrapolated one exception to jus 

19 soli, writing, ‘‘But if enemies should come into any 

20 of the King’s dominions, and surprise any castle or 

21 fort, and possess the same by hostility, and have 

22 issue there, that issue is no subject to the King, 

23 though he be born within his dominions, for that he 

24 was not born under the King’s ligeance or obedience. 

25 But the time of his birth us of the essence of a subVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:31 Aug 11, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4864.IH H4864

kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
4 

•HR 4864 IH

1 ject born; for he cannot be a subject to the King of 

2 England, unless at the time of his birth he was 

3 under the ligeance and obedience of the King.’’. 

4 (7) Whether a person at birth is under the 

5 ligeance and obedience to the sovereign is not deter6 mined by whether his foreign parent is subject to the 

7 territorial jurisdiction of prosecution, as any foreign 

8 enemy, marauder or bandit, would be subject to the 

9 law of the land when captured, but, instead, whether 

10 his parent is present in the territory lawfully and 

11 permanently, not only voluntarily availing himself to 

12 the jurisdiction thereof, but doing so with the con13 sent of the sovereign. 

14 (8) Senator Howard, when proposing language 

15 to be included in the 14th Amendment and making 

16 reference to English common law exceptions, clari17 fied his intent that citizenship should not be con18 veyed to everyone born or present in the United 

19 States, when he stated, ‘‘This will not, of course, in20 clude persons born in the United States who are for21 eigners, aliens, who belong to the families of ambas22 sadors or foreign ministers accredited to the Govern23 ment of the United States, but will include every 

24 other class of persons’’. 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
5 

•HR 4864 IH

1 (9) Senator Lyman Trumbull, a key figure in 

2 the adoption of the 14th Amendment, said that 

3 ‘‘subject to the jurisdiction’’ of the United States 

4 meant not owing allegiance to any other country. 

5 (10) Owing allegiance to the United States and 

6 being subject to its complete jurisdiction means 

7 being ‘‘not subject to any foreign power’’ and ex8 cludes those only temporarily present in the country 

9 whether lawfully or unlawfully. 

10 (11) The 14th Amendment’s framers intended 

11 to give citizenship only to those who owed their alle12 giance to the United States and were subject to its 

13 complete jurisdiction, primarily the newly freed 

14 slaves, who were lawful permanent residents. 

15 (12) The 1866 Civil Rights Act further clarified 

16 that the 14th Amendment did not apply to tem17 porary visitors or those who remained the citizen or 

18 subject of a parent’s home country when it stated, 

19 ‘‘All persons born or naturalized in the United 

20 States, and not subject to any foreign power, exclud21 ing Indians not taxed, are hereby declared to be citi22 zens of the United States.’’. 

23 (13) American Indians and their children did 

24 not become citizens until Congress passed the Indian 

25 Citizenship Act of 1924, which would have been reVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:31 Aug 11, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4864.IH H4864

kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
6 

•HR 4864 IH

1 dundant if the 14th Amendment extended citizen2 ship to every person born in the United States, no 

3 matter what the circumstances of their birth or par4 entage. 

5 (14) Since the inception of the 14th Amend6 ment, the Supreme Court has never interpreted the 

7 14th Amendment to extend birthright citizenship to 

8 the children of any class of individuals who are not 

9 citizens themselves, or lawful permanent residents. 

10 (15) Congressional intent and understanding of 

11 its ability to legislate naturalization within the origi12 nal public meaning of the 14th Amendment is clear 

13 and apparent as evidenced by legislation. 

14 (16) The current concept of unqualified birth15 right citizenship is inconsistent with the history and 

16 meaning of the 14th Amendment and has been 

17 granted far too broadly in recent decades, enabling 

18 fraud and civilizational altering levels of immigration 

19 spurred by persons who have illegally crossed our 

20 borders to obtain citizenship for their children under 

21 the misinterpretation of the 14th Amendment. 

22 (17) The United States is one of two developed 

23 nations that currently grants automatic citizenship 

24 so expansively to children born within its borders. 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
7 

•HR 4864 IH

1 (18) Unqualified birthright citizenship provides 

2 a strong incentive for illegal immigrants to cross the 

3 southern border of the United States. When their 

4 child is born on United States soil, the family can 

5 return to their home country, and 21 years later, the 

6 family may return as a part of chain migration not 

7 subject to the numerical limitations by which we 

8 control most international migration. 

9 (19) Illegal immigrants who crossed into the 

10 United States to give birth, often return to Mexico, 

11 sending their children across the border daily to at12 tend American public schools, crowding out Amer13 ican students and taking advantage of American tax 

14 dollars. 

15 (20) Apprehensions of persons attempting to 

16 enter the United States illegally at the southern bor17 der of the United States surpassed 2,300,000 in fis18 cal year 2022 and has been increasing exponentially 

19 since 2020, and steadily since 1980. 

20 (21) Millions of illegal immigrants have at least 

21 one child who is deemed a citizen under the erro22 neous interpretation of the 14th Amendment. Esti23 mates show that most children of unauthorized im24 migrants are citizens by birth, and the number has 

25 been increasing exponentially since 2003. 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
8 

•HR 4864 IH

1 (22) Unqualified birthright citizenship has en2 abled an entire black market. Estimates show that 

3 birth tourism results in 33,000 births to women on 

4 tourist visas annually, and hundreds of thousands 

5 more are born to mothers who are illegal aliens or 

6 present on temporary visas, many of whom have 

7 misrepresented the purpose of their trip to avoid 

8 scrutiny. 

9 (23) The birth tourism industry is rampant in 

10 the United States territories, with more annual 

11 births to foreign visitors than native residents in the 

12 Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands. 

13 (24) The Government Accountability Office has 

14 found the fiscal impact of providing public benefits 

15 to illegal aliens, noting that— 

16 (A) illegal aliens and their United States 

17 children are eligible to receive emergency Med18 icaid services, primary and secondary education, 

19 school nutrition services, Aid to Families with 

20 Dependent Children (AFDC), and food stamp 

21 benefits; 

22 (B) cost data are not readily available be23 cause illegal aliens are not required to reveal 

24 their eligibility to receive certain benefits, and 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
9 

•HR 4864 IH

1 officials are often prohibited from inquiring 

2 about the status of illegal aliens; 

3 (C) the total costs of providing benefits to 

4 illegal aliens is unknown due to Federal and 

5 State cost data limitations; 

6 (D) the estimated cost of providing AFDC 

7 benefits to children of illegal aliens was 

8 $479,000,000 for 1992; 

9 (E) of the 5 States that account for about 

10 80 percent of the illegal immigrant population, 

11 California provided the most benefits totaling 

12 $2,900,000,000; 

13 (F) the cost of providing benefits to illegal 

14 aliens is expected to increase some program 

15 costs; and 

16 (G) the complete fiscal impact of providing 

17 benefits to illegal aliens cannot be determined, 

18 since government revenues attributable to ille19 gal aliens are unknown. 

20 SEC. 4. CLARIFICATION OF BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP. 

21 Section 101 of the Immigration and Nationality Act 

22 (8 U.S.C. 1101) is amended by adding at the end the fol23 lowing: 

24 ‘‘(j) For purposes of section 301(a), the term ‘subject 

25 to the jurisdiction thereof’ means, with respect to a person 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
10 

•HR 4864 IH

1 born in the United States, that the person was born to 

2 a parent who is, at the time of the person’s birth— 

3 ‘‘(1) a national of the United States; 

4 ‘‘(2) a refugee; 

5 ‘‘(3) an alien lawfully admitted for permanent 

6 residence; or 

7 ‘‘(4) an alien performing active service in the 

8 armed forces (as defined in section 101 of title 10, 

9 United States Code).’’. 

10 SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

11 The amendments made by this Act shall apply to per12 sons born on or after the date of the enactment of this 

13 Act. 

Æ 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS