PARENT Act Redefines Birthright Citizenship: Only Children of Citizens or Green Card Holders Get Automatic Status

The Prohibiting Automatic Rights to Enter National Territory Act, or PARENT Act of 2025, takes a swing at one of the most fundamental concepts in U.S. law: birthright citizenship. Currently, if you are born on U.S. soil, you are automatically a citizen because the law says you are “subject to the jurisdiction thereof.” Section 2 of the PARENT Act explicitly redefines that phrase, stating that automatic citizenship only applies if, at the time of birth, at least one parent is either a U.S. citizen or a lawful permanent resident (LPR, or green card holder). This means if both parents are undocumented immigrants or temporary visa holders (like those on student or work visas), the child would no longer automatically receive U.S. citizenship, fundamentally changing the status quo for those born after the law takes effect (SEC. 3).

The Fine Print: Who Gets the Golden Ticket?

This bill attempts to draw a bright line based on parental status. If you’re a parent with a green card or a U.S. passport, your child born here is still automatically a citizen. The change hits families where both parents lack that permanent legal status. For example, imagine a couple who came to the U.S. on temporary work visas that have since expired, or a couple who crossed the border without authorization. If they have a child now, that child is a U.S. citizen. If this bill passes, that same child born next year would not be, even though they were born in the same hospital bed. They would essentially be born into a legal limbo, potentially remaining undocumented or stateless despite being born on U.S. soil.

Real-World Friction: What Changes on the Ground?

The biggest impact is the creation of a new class of U.S.-born individuals who are not citizens. This is a massive shift with cascading effects. Currently, a U.S. citizen child provides a clear legal anchor for the family, especially as the child grows older. Under the PARENT Act, families where the parents are undocumented would have children who are also undocumented from birth, complicating everything from school enrollment to accessing basic social services down the line, even though they are geographically American. This also means that hospitals, which currently only track the parents’ names for birth certificates, might need to start formally tracking and verifying parental immigration status to determine the child’s citizenship, adding a significant layer of bureaucracy and cost to what is currently a straightforward process.

The Constitutional Crossroads

It’s important to understand why this is a big deal: the current interpretation of the 14th Amendment has stood for over a century. Changing this definition through legislation, as the PARENT Act attempts to do (SEC. 2), immediately sets the stage for a massive legal battle that would likely end up at the Supreme Court. The core question is whether Congress has the authority to redefine the meaning of “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” in a way that excludes children born to non-citizens who are physically present in the country. For everyday people, this means years of uncertainty where the legal status of potentially millions of children could be in question, depending on how the courts ultimately interpret this legislative move.