U.S. Senator Jim Banks of Indiana is introducing legislation aimed at ending automatic birthright citizenship for children born to illegal immigrants and foreign birth tourists. The Citizenship Act would amend federal immigration law by defining unauthorized migrants and people entering specifically to give birth as “invaders.” Their U.S.-born children would therefore be excluded from automatic citizenship.
Banks says the bill follows a recent Supreme Court ruling that limited President Trump’s attempt to address the issue through executive action. Justice Brett Kavanaugh suggested in a separate opinion that while the president’s order conflicted with existing federal law, Congress could amend that law and establish new exceptions. The legislation provides Congress with a constitutional path to protect American sovereignty without changing the Fourteenth Amendment or overturning Supreme Court precedent.
The bill relies partly on the landmark 1898 Wong Kim Ark decision, which recognized exceptions to birthright citizenship for children of foreign diplomats and hostile occupying forces. Banks argues that illegal immigration and organized birth tourism should fall under similar principles. Banks says the current system rewards illegal entry and allows foreign nationals to exploit American citizenship for their children.
His proposal also highlights concerns about commercial birth-tourism operations, including those connected to China. The central issue is whether citizenship should remain an automatic benefit of unlawful entry—or a protected privilege tied to national allegiance, lawful immigration and the consent of the American people.
If there is a loophole as blatant as birthright citizenship that is allowed to happen, then it essentially makes immigration enforcement completely untenable. No matter what the courts say, we must exhaust every avenue to end birthright citizenship.
