[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4459 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 4459

To amend section 301 of the Immigration and Nationality Act to clarify 
  those classes of individuals born in the United States who are not 
          nationals or citizens of the United States at birth.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              June 5, 2024

   Mr. Cotton (for himself, Mr. Vance, Mrs. Blackburn, and Mr. Cruz) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
                       Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend section 301 of the Immigration and Nationality Act to clarify 
  those classes of individuals born in the United States who are not 
          nationals or citizens of the United States at birth.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Constitutional Citizenship 
Clarification Act of 2024''.

SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) the right of birthright citizenship, established by 
        section 1 of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the 
        United States, is rooted in the common law doctrine of jus soli 
        and limited by the principle that it is not ``the soil, but 
        ligeantia and obedientia that make the subject born'' a 
        citizen;
            (2) the Supreme Court of the United States has long 
        recognized that, under the principle of allegiance and 
        obedience, the children of foreign diplomats or enemy troops 
        born on United States soil are not entitled to birthright 
        citizenship; and
            (3) under that same principle, the children of foreign 
        spies, saboteurs, terrorists, or other hostile actors, as well 
        as the children of illegal aliens, should not be entitled to 
        birthright citizenship.

SEC. 3. PURPOSE.

    The purposes of this Act are--
            (1) to codify the common law exception to birthright 
        citizenship for ambassadors and invaders; and
            (2) to clarify that other categories of disloyal or 
        disobedient aliens are also subject to such exception.

SEC. 4. CITIZENSHIP AT BIRTH EXCLUSIONS FOR CERTAIN PERSONS BORN IN THE 
              UNITED STATES.

    Section 301(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 
1401(a)) is amended by striking the semicolon at the end and inserting 
the following: ``:  Provided, That a person born in the United States 
shall not be considered subject to the jurisdiction of the United 
States if the person is born of alien parents who are--
            (1) unlawfully present in the United States;
            (2) present in the United States for diplomatic purposes; 
        or
            (3) engaged in a hostile occupation of, or a hostile 
        operation in, the United States;''.
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