S. 2274 — Constitutional Citizenship Clarification Act of 2025

This section states the sense of Congress that birthright citizenship under section 1 of the 14th Amendment, rooted in the common law doctrine of jus soli, is limited by the principle that allegiance and obedience—not merely soil—confer citizenship; that the Supreme Court has recognized children of foreign diplomats or enemy troops born on U.S. soil are not entitled to it; and that children of foreign spies, saboteurs, terrorists, other hostile actors, or illegal aliens should not be entitled to it.

This section states the purposes of the Act as (1) codifying the common law exception to birthright citizenship for children of ambassadors and invaders and (2) clarifying that the exception also applies to children of other disloyal or disobedient aliens.

This section limits birthright citizenship by amending Section 301(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act to provide that a person born in the United States is not subject to its jurisdiction—and thus not a citizen at birth—if born to 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. (As background, current law grants citizenship at birth to persons born in the United States and subject to its jurisdiction, which courts have interpreted to exclude children of foreign diplomats and invading forces.)