Birth within the United States

Main article: Birthright citizenship in the United States of America

The Supreme Court has never explicitly ruled on whether children born in the United States to illegal immigrant parents are entitled to birthright citizenship via the 14th Amendment,[2] although it has generally been assumed that they are.[3]. This has become controversial, as some non-residents enter the US as illegal aliens with the intent to give birth to children. A birth certificate is considered evidence of citizenship. This differs from most western nations; countries of the European Union which awarded citizenship to children born there (such as Ireland) closed this possibility.

In the case of United States v. Wong Kim Ark, 169 U.S. 649 (1898), the Supreme Court ruled that a person who

* is born in the United States
* of parents who, at the time of his birth, are subjects of a foreign power
* whose parents have a permanent domicile and residence in the United States
* whose parents are there carrying on business and are not employed in any diplomatic or official capacity of the foreign power to which they are subject

becomes, at the time of his birth, a citizen of the United States, by virtue of the first clause of the 14th amendment of the Constitution.

Through birth abroad to one United States citizen

For persons born on or after November 14, 1986, a person is a U.S. citizen if all of the following are true:[4]

1. One of the person's parents was a U.S. citizen when the person in question was born;
2. The citizen parent lived at least 5 years in the United States before his or her child's birth; and
3. At least 2 of these 5 years in the United States were after the citizen parent's 14th birthday.

A person's record of birth abroad, if registered with a U.S. consulate or embassy, is proof of his or her citizenship. Such a person may also apply for a passport or a Certificate of Citizenship to have a record of his or her citizenship. Such documentation is often useful to prove citizenship in lieu of the availability of an American birth certificate.

Different rules apply for persons born abroad to one U.S. citizen before November 14, 1986. United States law on this subject changed multiple times throughout the twentieth century, and the law as it existed at the time of the individual's birth controls.

1934 Act of May 24, 1934, Section 1, 48 Stat. 797.


"Any child hereafter born out of the limits and jurisdiction of the United States, whose father or mother or both at the time of birth of such child is a citizen of the United States, is declared to be a citizen of the United States: but the rights of citizenship shall not descend to any such child unless the citizen father or citizen mother, as the case may be, has resided in the United States previous to the birth of such child. In cases where one of the parents is an alien, the right of citizenship shall not descend unless the child comes to the United States and resides therein for at least five years continuously immediately previous to his eighteenth birthday, and unless, within six months after the child's twenty-first birthday, he or she shall take an oath of allegiance to the United States of America as prescribed by the Bureau of Naturalization."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23887017

Ha. Go McCain! :p

John McCain will win Kentucky and South Carolina, while Barack Obama will take Vermont, CNN projects based on exit polls.

his birth cirtificate is Hawaiian.

and he was born to an american mother.

that makes him american.



and here is the statute that existed at the time of obama's birth

That's not the issue.

I think this thread should now discuss placing bets on how many days/months after he is sworn in, til he is shot.

In which case, I'd say three months.

Bush has not been shot.

Bush has not been shot.

Bush isn't black.
The bets are generally on for some racist nut-job to take Obama down.

if the issue isnt that they are claiming hes not an american citizen, then what is it, because all the articles i've found about the lawsuit stated that he didnt hold citizenship.

It also states that regardless, he would have lost his citizenship via attending school in Indonesia.