New Research Finds Ending Birthright Citizenship Would Be Costly to Americans

"There are many costs to Americans and American society of changing the Fourteenth Amendment’s Citizenship Clause, according to a new report released by the National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP), an Arlington, Va.-based policy research group. Based on current costs to verify the citizenship status of children born overseas to U.S. citizens, changing the Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment will cost new parents in the United States approximately $600 in government fees to prove the citizenship status of each baby and likely an additional $600 to $1,000 in legal fees. This represents a “tax” of $1,200 to $1,600 on each baby born in the United States, while at the same time doing little to deter illegal entry to the United States. Direct fees to the federal government would reach $2.4 billion a year, based on current estimates. The author of the report, Margaret Stock, is an immigration law and citizenship expert and Counsel to the Firm at the Anchorage office of Lane Powell PC. She is also a retired U.S. Army Reserve officer in the Military Police Corps." - NFAP, Mar. 5, 2012.