The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is looking to expand the list of people exempt from being granted birthright citizenship, through a new order offering green cards instead. In a yet unpublished Federal Register filing, DHS said it was seeking to prevent children born to foreign government employees from attaining citizenship under the 14th Amendment, marking an expansion from just those born to diplomats or ambassadors. The move would be the latest in a string of efforts by the Trump administration to limit birthright citizenship, even after the U.S.
Supreme Court ruled in June that any child born on U.S. soil is an American citizen, within the bounds of the constitutional amendment. DHS's interim final rule would allow certain children born in the U.S. to foreign government employees to register as lawful permanent residents, while at the same time declaring that they are not U.S. citizens at birth unless one parent is a U.S. citizen. Newsweek reached out to DHS for comment Friday afternoon.
Under the proposal, DHS would replace the existing regulatory framework covering children born to foreign diplomatic officers with a broader category covering "foreign government employees." The regulation states that a person born in the U.S. to a foreign government employee "is not subject to the jurisdiction of the United States for purposes of birthright citizenship" unless at least one parent is a U.S. citizen. Those individuals would be able to apply for lawful permanent resident status through an existing immigration process and, if approved, would be considered permanent residents from the date of birth. DHS says the change is being made in response to Executive Order 14418, signed by President Donald Trump on August 6, titled "Continuing to Protect the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship." The agency says the order directed it to take steps to prevent the issuance of citizenship documents to certain U.S.-born individuals whose parents fall within specified categories.
The rule repeatedly references the administration's interpretation of the 14th Amendment's Citizenship Clause, which grants citizenship to persons born in the U.S. and "subject to the jurisdiction thereof." DHS argues that children of foreign government employees fall outside that definition when neither parent is a U.S. citizen. A key distinction emphasized by DHS is that the rule does not simply restate the existing exception for diplomats. Children born in the U.S. to accredited foreign diplomats have long been treated differently under U.S. law because diplomats are generally considered outside the full jurisdiction of the U.S. and therefore do not automatically acquire citizenship for their children born here.
DHS regulations dating back decades already provided a pathway for such individuals to obtain permanent resident status. The administration's new proposal goes considerably further. DHS explicitly acknowledges that prior regulations applied only to "foreign diplomatic officers" and that the new definition of "foreign government employee" is broader.
The agency notes that before this rule, only children of foreign government employees who were also diplomatic officers were excluded from birthright citizenship under the existing regulatory framework. In other words, the significance of the proposal is not that it changes the status of diplomats' children, who were already covered. Instead, it expands the category to include a wider range of embassy staff, consular employees, foreign government workers and certain international organization employees.
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