Citizenship
Trump's New Birthright Citizenship Executive Orders Are Mostly Theater
The two measures combine unconstitutional provisions with performance art.
The Trump Administration Promises the 'Largest Denaturalization Effort Ever'
Denaturalization isn't new, but it has been used sparingly in modern history, in part because it is extremely costly and time-consuming.
Donald Trump Just Demonstrated the Value of Birthright Citizenship
The next Folarin Balogun could be in a field that matters much more than a soccer pitch. America should not handicap its access to such talent.
Videos of Media Interviews on the Birthright Citizenship Decision [Updated]
Videos of my interviews with C-SPAN and Fox 10 Phoenix.
Supreme Court Rules Against Trump in the Birthright Citizenship Case
The 6-3 decision is right, and a contrary ruling would have had horrific effects.
Trump Policy Could Send Legal Residents Abroad To Apply for Green Cards
A new memo from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services would require green card applicants to apply for permanent residency abroad—but the law it cites may say the opposite.
Florida Sheriffs Say Mass Deportations Go Too Far, Call for Path to Citizenship
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd and other Florida law enforcement leaders say they'd rather be focusing on immigrants who are committing crimes.
Birthright Citizenship Re-Examined (from an Originalist Perspective)
Professor Michael Ramsey revisits the original public meaning of the 14th Amendment's citizenship clause.
Department of Homeland Security
DHS Says REAL ID, Which DHS Certifies, Is Too Unreliable To Confirm U.S. Citizenship
It's the punch line to a bad joke that started 20 years ago when Congress passed the REAL ID Act.
Supreme Court Agrees to Consider Birthright Citizenship (This Time for Real)
The justices grant certiorari before judgment in one of the two cases challenging the Trump Administration's attempt to narrow birthright citizenship via executive order.
ICE's Mass Arrests Ensnare U.S. Citizens and Show No Signs of Stopping
The case of Leo Garcia Venegas, a U.S. citizen arrested twice by immigration enforcement, demonstrates the problem with the government's current strategy.
Can American Citizens Lose Their Citizenship?
Yes, but only if they intend to relinquish it (or, if they are naturalized citizens and committed fraud during the naturalization process).
Trump Says Birthright Citizenship Is Only 'About the Babies of Slaves.' Historical Evidence Says Otherwise.
The 1866 debate over birthright citizenship included a debate over immigration.
Defenders of Trump's Birthright Citizenship Order Offer an Implausible Take on a 127-Year-Old Precedent
Briefs urging the Supreme Court to stay injunctions against the order challenge "the conventional wisdom" about the meaning of an 1898 decision interpreting the 14th Amendment.
Deporting the Cancer Kid
Plus: Pell Grant fraud, New York mayoral candidate defaulting on student loans, and more...
ICE Arrests Palestinian Immigrant at His Citizenship Test
Columbia student Mohsen Mahdawi thought he was going to become an American. Instead, ICE whisked him away into detention.
Divided Fourth Circuit Denies Partial Stay of Preliminary Injunction Against Executive Order Curtailing Birthright Citizenship
If nationwide injunctions were okay against other administrations, the Fourth Circuit see no reason they are not okay now.
Ninth Circuit Denies Government Request for Emergency Relief in Birthright Citizenship Case
The first of what may be many appellate rulings on the Trump Administration's most controversial and questionable Executive Order.
More on Birthright Citizenship and Undocumented Immigrants - Rejoinder to Barnett and Wurman
Why their response to me and other critics fails to refute key objections.
Birthright Citizenship - A Response to Barnett and Wurman
Their argument for denying birthright citizenship to children of undocumented immigrants born in the US has multiple weaknesses, including that it would also have denied it to former slaves.
Two Injunctions Against Trump's Citizenship Decree Expose the Weakness of His Arguments
Federal judges in Washington and Maryland say the president's attack on birthright citizenship flouts the 14th Amendment and 127 years of judicial precedent.
Alex Nowrasteh and Bryan Caplan: The Case for More Immigration
Immigration experts Alex Nowrasteh and Bryan Caplan make the case for significantly more and easier immigration to the U.S.
Trump's Citizenship Decree Signals His Willingness To Flout the Constitution
The executive order contradicts the 14th Amendment and 127 years of judicial precedent.
Oklahoma May Soon Ask K-12 Families for Proof of Citizenship
The state superintendent says the measure isn't intended to discourage undocumented parents from sending their kids to school. That's hard to believe.
The Problem With Trump's Birthright Citizenship Order
Former Rep. Justin Amash explains why President Donald Trump's interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment is wrong.
Debating Birthright Citizenship (Again) [UPDATED]
The arguments are not new. The willingness of an Administration to act on them are.
Federal Court Issues Temporary Restraining Order Blocking "Blatantly Unconstitutional" Trump Birthright Citizenship Order
The TRO blocks the order for 14 days and is a sign that courts are highly skeptical of Trump's position.
More on Birthright Citizenship and Undocumented Immigrants
Legal scholars Amanda Frost and Paul Gowder have both published notable new articles on the subject.
Trump Cannot Restrict Birthright Citizenship by Presidential Edict
The executive order that the president-elect plans to issue contradicts the historical understanding of the 14th Amendment.
New Article on "Birthright Citizenship and Undocumented Immigrants"
My new Just Security article explains why denying birthright citizenship to children of undocumented immigrants would be unconstitutional.
Florida Limits on Ownership of Real Property by Chinese Citizens Are Preempted by Federal Law
So an Eleventh Circuit panel tentatively concludes, preliminarily enjoining the statute; one judge would hold that the limits violate the Equal Protection Clause.
Campus Speech Restrictions Come Back To Bite Universities
Plus: A listener asks if there is any place libertarians can go to start their own country or city state.
The Original Meaning of the Privileges or Immunities Clause
What Swift v. Tyson has to say to The Slaughter-House Cases
Legacy Preferences, Citizenship, Migration, and the Implications of a Constitutional Ban on Hereditary Privilege
Some scholars and commentators argue that legacy preferences at public universities are unconstitutional because they are a form of hereditary privilege. If so, the same is likely true of the far more consequential hereditary privilege of citizenship that severely restricts the right to live and work in the United States.
Immigrants Can't Naturalize if They Own a Marijuana Dispensary, Court Says
Maria Elena Reimers has been caught in legal limbo for years.
Free Immigration Is a Core American Value
Just consider the policies that the Founding Fathers embraced.
This U.S. Citizen Was Detained by ICE for Over a Month. Now He's Getting a $150,000 Settlement.
A Government Accountability Office report last year documented hundreds of ICE actions involving potential U.S. citizens.
Why (Most) Citizens Are Not "Responsible for the Actions of their State"
A comment by Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas highlights a longstanding pernicious fallacy.
Canada Granted Permanent Residency to a Record Number of People in 2021
Canadian officials recognize that immigrants are key to the post-COVID economic recovery. The U.S. should take note.
These Asylum Seekers Are Losing Jobs Because Bureaucrats Won't Do Theirs
The U.S. is still facing a worker shortage. Why keep willing workers away from jobs?
Most Americans Favor a 'Pathway to Citizenship' for Undocumented Immigrants
55 percent of Americans say they favor providing a "pathway to citizenship" for undocumented immigrants and 56 percent say that simplifying the process for legal immigration is the best way to reduce illegal immigration.
Biden Administration Revokes Trump Changes to Citizenship Test for Immigrants
The previous administration had made some reasonable changes, but also introduced questions based on factual errors and questionable normative assumptions smuggled in under the guise of factual knowledge.
Biden's Immigration Plan: The Good, the Bad, and the Unclear
Plus: Legal cannabis workers now outnumber electrical engineers in the U.S., Portland cops defend dumpsters from hungry people, and more...
D.C. Circuit (Sadly) Affirms District Court in Hoda Muthana Case
Judge Rao writes an opinion rejecting all claims in equity, among other things
