ICYMI: The Hill: “To Fix Birthright Citizenship, Declare a Foreign Invasion”

Click here to read the full story from The Hill or read below.

OPINION: Just before the United States celebrated its 250th birthday, the Supreme Court of the United States issued what might become its most egregious ruling of my lifetime. In Trump v. Barbara, the court ruled that children born to parents who are in our country illegally, or even just visiting as tourists, are citizens of the United States because of birthright citizenship. I have absolutely no doubt that we will look back upon this ruling as being as wrong and legally perverse as Roe v. Wade.

The fate of our republic rests on being able to minimize the damage the court has inflicted upon the country. The court's decision is simply incompatible with the Constitution and what it means to cohere as a nation. If the reward for illegal immigration is birthright citizenship, then why bother with borders and rules at all? What does it even mean to be a citizen if that coveted titled, "American Citizen," can be achieved by illegal means?

Though the situation is bleak, the story is not yet over. President Trump called on Congress to act to fix the court's mess. Congress has the power and duty to do so. My bill, the Citizenship Act of 2026, will curb birthright citizenship and help save our nation by declaring illegal immigration a foreign invasion into the United States.

Section 4, article IV of the Constitution of the United States imposes a constitutional duty on the United States to "protect each [state] against invasion." And Section 8 of article I of the Constitution gives Congress the power to "establish a uniform Rule of Naturalization," which, as James Madison noted in the Federalist Papers, is designed to protect states from being forced to accept liberal immigration policies. The Supreme Court's decision on birthright citizenship amounts to the most liberal immigration policy I've ever heard of.

The court's decision exacerbates what is already a national security crisis of the highest order. Under President Joe Biden, millions of migrants flooded our country's borders or were otherwise permitted to enter into the country. President Biden let in known cartel members, violent criminals and terrorists. He also abused emergency temporary programs like parole and Temporary Protected Status to allow millions of illegal immigrants to remain in the United States and receive public benefits. Not only does Mexico know this is happening, the Mexican government encourages mass migration to the United States in order to retake the territory lost in the Mexican-American War.

But it's not only at the southern border that this invasion took place. Birth tourism, too, has seriously affected our country. As many as 1.5 million Chinese nationals have United States citizenship after being born in the country by surrogates, a practice encouraged by the Chinese Community Party.

Illegal immigration into the United States amounts to nothing less than a foreign invasion, and it is our constitutional duty to stop it.

Children of foreign invaders born on U.S. soil are not entitled to birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment. The Framers of the Citizenship Clause understood it to exclude children of invaders, and all nine currently serving Supreme Court justices agree. Trump v. Barbara allows us to withhold birthright citizenship from the children of invaders. Not only that, it's the political branches, not the courts, that get to decide who is considered a foreign invader.

On his first day in office last year, President Trump issued a proclamation declaring that the mass migration of illegals into the United States constituted a foreign invasion. My bill codifies the president's declaration of an invasion and amends federal law to deny birthright citizenship to the children of illegal immigrants and birth tourist invaders. This is the way forward, and it is the only way forward that's consistent with the Supreme Court's decision.

Benjamin Franklin once remarked that we will have a republic only if we can keep it. We will be able to keep our republic safe and secure if we can see the illegal immigration and birthright citizenship crisis for what it really is: a foreign invasion meant to destroy not only what it means to be an American, but America itself. The stakes could not be higher. If we fail to act, America as we know it might not get to see its 251st birthday.

###