DHS Proposes Rule to Deny Birthright Citizenship to Children of Foreign Government Employees

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has drafted an interim final rule that would treat children born in the United States to “foreign government employees” as non-citizens at birth unless one parent is a U.S. citizen. The rule would grant such children lawful permanent resident status through the existing green-card process, effectively expanding the current exemption that applies only to children of accredited foreign diplomats.

Newsweek

Historically, U.S. regulations have excluded the children of foreign diplomatic officers from automatic citizenship because diplomats are considered outside full U.S. jurisdiction. The Supreme Court’s June decision reaffirmed that any child born on U.S. soil is a citizen, but the Court also recognized the diplomatic exception. The Trump administration has repeatedly sought to narrow birthright citizenship, and this proposal represents the latest effort to broaden the diplomatic exemption to include embassy staff, consular employees, other foreign government workers, and certain international-organization personnel with immunity.

Newsweek

DHS argues that children of foreign government employees fall outside the 14th-Amendment Citizenship Clause’s “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” language when neither parent holds U.S. citizenship. The agency acknowledges an existing injunction in *Casa Inc. v. Trump* that blocks implementation of related birthright-citizenship measures and says it will not enforce the rule in conflict with that court order.

Newsweek

The regulation is scheduled for publication in the Federal Register on September 9 and will take effect immediately as an interim final rule while DHS accepts public comments. It will apply prospectively to children born on or after that date and will not affect those born earlier. The proposal is expected to face further judicial scrutiny as part of the broader legal battle over the scope of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Newsweek