In this week’s episode of This Week in Immigration, BPC Senior Advisor Theresa Cardinal Brown discusses the implications of a recent executive order that has sought to limit birthright citizenship in the United States. Immigration attorney and MacArthur Fellow Margaret Stock explains what current law says about who qualifies for U.S. citizenship, drawing on her years of experience helping U.S. citizens document the citizenship of children born abroad. She also discusses the challenges U.S. parents could face under the order and the potential financial and legal burdens it would create. Then, Jacob Hamburger, Visiting Assistant Professor of Law at Cornell, joins to talk about how the policy could strain state and local governments that issue birth certificates and the broader federalism issues it raises. 

Protesting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship – White House Executive Order:  

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/protecting-the-meaning-and-value-of-american-citizenship/ 

The Consequences of Ending Birthright Citizenship - Jacob Hamburger: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5106022 

Four questions in the Supreme Court arguments in birthright citizenship cases – CNN:  

https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/30/politics/birthright-citizenship-supreme-court-vladeck-analysis