Nolan writes:
President Donald Trump said recently that, “We’re the only country in the world where a person comes in and has a baby, and the baby is essentially a citizen of the United States for 85 years, with all of those benefits.”
He’s wrong. According to the CIA World Factbook, 39 countries have birthright citizenship.
But the rest of the 195 countries (80 per cent) base citizenship at birth on the nationality or resident status of the child’s parents.
Perhaps Trump should have said instead that the United States and Canada are the only two developed countries that have it, and Canada is in the process of deciding whether to stop using it.
Why have most of the countries in the world rejected birthright citizenship?
. . . .
The fact that so many countries have rejected birthright citizenship doesn’t justify giving it up, but it does warrant taking a closer look at the practice.
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Go on over to The Hill at the link to read Nolan’s complete article. Among other things, he discusses the approaches of the UK, Canada, and Ireland.
PWS
11-10-18