US President Donald Trump once again spoke out against birthright citizenship, arguing that the policy was originally intended for “children of slaves” and is now being abused by wealthy foreigners seeking US citizenship for their children. In the post on Truth Social, Trump criticized the practice of so-called “birth tourism”, claiming that people from countries such as China are exploiting the “pay-for” system to secure citizenship. He also took aim at the American judicial system, linking the issue to broader concerns over tariffs and economic policy, saying, “Stupid judges and juries will not make a great country.” Trump further asserted that the United States is unique in continuing to debate birthright citizenship, saying he “laughed” at the American legal framework and suggested that other countries would benefit from the current system.“Birthright citizenship is not about rich people in China and the rest of the world who want their children, and hundreds of thousands of others, for payment, ridiculously become citizens of the United States. It is about the children of slaves! We are the only country in the world that even treats this topic with respect. Look at the dates of this very early law – the exact end of the Civil War! The world is getting rich by selling citizenship in our country, while at the same time laughing at how stupid our American court system is. (Tariffs!) “Stupid judges don’t make a great country!” Trump said on Truth Social. Birthright citizenship is the principle of jus soli, or “by right of soil”, whereby almost anyone born in a U.S. territory automatically becomes a citizen. This is guaranteed by the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, adopted in 1868 to ensure citizenship for formerly enslaved people, and later strengthened by the Supreme Court’s 1898 decision in United States v. Wong Kim Ark, which extended rights to children born to non-citizen parents. While broadly applied, it excludes certain categories, such as children of foreign diplomats, and remains a central, constitutionally protected feature of US citizenship law.
