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To amend section 301 of the Immigration and Nationality Act to clarify the meaning of the Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, and for other purposes.
Summary
- Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to modify the definition of who qualifies for automatic U.S. citizenship at birth.
- Establishes that a person born in the United States is a U.S. citizen only if not subject to a foreign power.
- Defines "subject to a foreign power" to mean a person born in the United States where neither parent is a U.S. citizen nor has been lawfully admitted for permanent residence at the time of birth.
- Provides that the amendment applies only to persons born after the enactment date and does not affect the citizenship status of anyone born before that date.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
- Sen. Schmitt, Eric [R-MO] (R-MO)
Actions (2)
- Jul 14, 2026 Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. · senate
- Jul 14, 2026 Introduced in Senate
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Full text
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
July 14, 2026
Mr. Schmitt introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To amend section 301 of the Immigration and Nationality Act to clarify the meaning of the Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “American Citizenship Act”.
SEC. 2. BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP ACCORDING TO THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION.
(a) In General.—Section 301(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1401(a)) is amended to read as follows:
“(a) a person born in the United States and not subject to any foreign power: Provided, That a person born in the United States shall be deemed subject to a foreign power if neither parent of such person is a United States citizen or has been lawfully admitted for permanent residence at the time of such person’s birth;”.
(b) Applicability.—The amendment made by subsection (a) may not be construed to affect the citizenship or nationality status of any person who was born before the date of the enactment of this Act. <all>
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