Immigration Article of the Day: THE COST TO AMERICANS AND AMERICA OF ENDING BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP by Margaret Stock

The National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP) just released a paper by Professor Margaret Stock on the cost of implementing a change to the 14th Amendment's birthright citizenship clause.  Here is a summary:

In recent years, calls to change the Fourteenth Amendment’s Citizenship Clause, which guarantees U.S. citizenship to most American-born babies, have been a regular feature of the political landscape. A change to the Citizenship Clause superficially appeals to some who have not considered the cost and implications of verifying the immigration or citizenship status of every parent of every child born in the United States each year. Based on current costs to verify the citizenship status of children born overseas to U.S. citizens, changing the Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment will cost new parents in the United States approximately $600 in government fees to prove the citizenship status of each baby and likely an additional $600 to $1,000 in legal fees. This represents a “tax” of $1,200 to $1,600 on each baby born in the United States, while at the same time doing little to deter illegal entry to the United States. Direct fees to the federal government would reach $2.4 billion a year, based on current estimates.

KJ