Updated

Updated · Fox News · Jul 13

Jim Banks Unveils Bill to End Birthright Citizenship After Supreme Court Setback in 2026

Updated

Updated · Fox News · Jul 13

Jim Banks Unveils Bill to End Birthright Citizenship After Supreme Court Setback in 2026

Q: Can Congress legally redefine 'invader' to bypass a recent Supreme Court ruling on birthright citizenship?

No. Congress can pass a statute, but it cannot override the Fourteenth Amendment as the Supreme Court has just interpreted it. In *Trump v. Barbara*, the Court held that children born in the United States to parents who are unlawfully or temporarily present are still “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States and therefore citizens at birth. The majority relied on *United States v. Wong Kim Ark* and treated the historical exceptions as very narrow: children of diplomats and children born to enemy forces in a genuine hostile occupation. That is a military concept, not a label for ordinary unauthorized migrants. That makes Sen. Jim Banks’s strategy legally vulnerable. Congress does have broad power over immigration and naturalization statutes, and Justice Brett Kavanaugh suggested in concurrence that Congress could try to amend federal law. But a statute cannot redefine a constitutional term in a way that contradicts a binding Supreme Court reading of the Citizenship Clause. Calling unauthorized entrants “invaders” in federal law would not by itself transform them into the kind of “alien enemies in hostile occupation” recognized in older cases. So the bill could be introduced and litigated, but under the current ruling it would likely be struck down. The stronger legal view is that changing birthright citizenship in this way would require either a constitutional amendment or a future Supreme Court reversal of its own interpretation.

1 articles · Updated · Fox News · Jul 13

Sen. Jim Banks plans to introduce the Citizenship Act on Monday, targeting birthright citizenship for children of undocumented immigrants and birth tourists by classifying their parents as statutory "invaders."
The bill follows last month’s Supreme Court ruling against Donald Trump’s executive order, after Justice Brett Kavanaugh said the order conflicted with federal statute but suggested Congress could rewrite that law.
Banks’ proposal would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act rather than the Constitution, aiming to use exceptions discussed in the 1898 Wong Kim Ark precedent for diplomats, enemy forces and hostile occupiers.
The Indiana Republican said the measure would codify Trump’s 2025 invasion declaration at the southern border and respond to Trump’s demand that Senate Republicans move faster on his immigration agenda.
The broader fight now shifts from executive action to Congress, where Banks is framing birthright citizenship as a sovereignty and foreign-influence issue tied to illegal immigration and birth tourism.

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Fox News8h ago

Sen. Jim Banks Introduces Bill to End Birthright Citizenship After Supreme Court Ruling Setback

Can Congress legally redefine 'invader' to bypass a recent Supreme Court ruling on birthright citizenship?

How would abandoning a 150-year-old citizenship rule change America's identity on the global stage?

What are the hidden economic costs for all citizens if verifying legal status becomes a routine requirement?

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Right100%

Fox News8h ago

Sen. Jim Banks Introduces Bill to End Birthright Citizenship After Supreme Court Ruling Setback

Jim Banks Unveils Bill to End Birthright Citizenship After Supreme Court Setback in 2026

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