All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the
jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State
wherein they reside.
"Subject to the jurisdiction" does not mean what open borders advocates like
Lee and
It meant diplomats whose diplomatic immunity puts them outside US jurisdiction.
No, that is *not* all it meant. It meant owing allegiance to the country. A
child born in the U.S. to aliens who do not owe allegiance to the country *also*
does not owe allegiance, and thus is not subject to the full and complete
jurisdiction of the U.S.
The citizenship clause of the 14th amendment closely tracked, and is based on,
the citizenship clause of the 1866 civil rights act. That clause reads:
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States
of America in Congress assembled, That all persons born in the United States
and *not subject to any foreign power*, excluding Indians not taxed, are
hereby declared to be citizens of the United States.
https://loveman.sdsu.edu/docs/1866FirstCivilRightsAct.pdf
The drafters of the 14th amendment fucked that up. "not subject to any foreign
power" is unambiguous: all aliens in the U.S. *are* subject to a foreign power,
and thus so are their U.S.-born offspring. "Subject to the jurisdiction thereof"
is ambiguous — just what degree of jurisdiction is meant? The debate in the
Senate in 1866 made clear that "jurisdiction" meant the *complete* political
jurisdiction, not merely legal jurisdiction. Of course a tourist in the U.S. is
subject to our laws — he'll be prosecuted if he holds up a liquor store and is
caught — but the country holds no *political* jurisdiction. The tourist cannot
be drafted nor forced to perform jury duty.
It also meant untaxed Indians. They were known to exist on land the US claimed,
but as long as the US could not prosecute nor force obedience, they were outside
US jurisdiction. Now since all Indians in US territory are under US
jurisdiction, they are also native citizens at birth.
*Not* based on the 14th amendment. Native Americans are now citizens at birth
only by act of Congress. It's by the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924. Look it up,
stupid.