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Subject to jurisdiction means a legal entity has the right to exercise control and enforce laws. The Fourteenth Amendment grants citizenship to those born or naturalized in the US and subject to its jurisdiction. The US Supreme Court has ruled that it does not apply to children of diplomats, but does apply to those born to parents not assigned to a foreign government. This interpretation is debated as it allows illegal immigrants to have children who become citizens.
Subject to jurisdiction means that a legal entity, such as a court or the government of a country, has the right to exercise physical control over a person, as well as apply and enforce its laws. It is a clause contained in the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution that defines who is entitled to citizenship. The precise meaning of the phrase has been a matter of debate by scholars and lawmakers, and has been defined in particular situations by the United States Supreme Court.
The Citizenship Clause of the United States Constitution automatically confers citizenship on anyone “born or naturalized in the United States and subject to its jurisdiction.” Determining whether a person was born or naturalized in the United States has historically been relatively easy. The question of whether a person born or naturalized in the United States is also subject to its jurisdiction has been less clear when applied to certain populations.
In court cases, the US Supreme Court has held that it does not apply to children of diplomats, ministers, consuls or embassy staff. As foreign citizens in the United States on business of their governments, parents and children owe their allegiance to their home country. They are not subject to US jurisdiction and are immune from most laws and prosecution.
A child born in the United States to parents not assigned to a foreign government is subject to United States jurisdiction and is considered a citizen. The parents may be traveling to the United States on vacation or in the process of legal or illegal immigration. In legal terms, the distinguishing point is not whether the parents are citizens of another country, but whether the parents are active agents of a foreign government, immune from US laws. If the parents are in the US of their own free will, the a child born in the United States is considered a US citizen.
This interpretation of the jurisdictional portion of the citizenship clause is hotly debated. Automatically grants US citizenship to children born in the US to parents who are citizens of another country. The loophole effectively allows illegal immigrants to have children in the country who automatically become citizens, making it much more complicated to deport families with mixed legal status. Opponents of this interpretation argue that illegal parents are no more subject to US jurisdiction than the diplomatic one, since the US would deport them back to their own country rather than exercise legal jurisdiction over them, and the children should have the same status as the parents despite their birth on American soil.
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