Trump claimed birthright citizenship was only meant for “babies of slaves,” but his own administration is selling citizenship for $1 million

President Donald Trump took to social media to speak out against birthright citizenship. He claimed the law was never meant for “rich people from China, and the rest of the World, who want their children, and hundreds of thousands more, FOR PAY, to ridiculously become citizens of the United States of America.” He argued the provision was only about “the BABIES OF SLAVES!”

According to Mediaite, Trump also said, “We are the only Country in the World that dignifies this subject with even discussion,” and urged people to “Look at the dates of this long ago legislation – THE EXACT END OF THE CIVIL WAR!” He then attacked the court system, adding, “The World is getting rich selling citizenships to our Country, while at the same time laughing at how STUPID our U.S. Court System has become. ‘Dumb Judges and Justices will not a great Country make!'”

Birthright citizenship is tied to the Fourteenth Amendment, ratified in 1868. It was designed to guarantee rights for African Americans and overturned the 1857 Dred Scott decision. The Citizenship Clause states: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside.”

Trump’s executive order faces legal battles while his administration sells citizenship for $1 million

On January 20, 2025, Trump signed an executive order aimed at ending birthright citizenship. Every court that has reviewed it has found it illegal and blocked it from taking effect. A three-judge panel on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals issued an injunction last July, blocking the administration from denying citizenship to U.S.-born children of parents in the country illegally or temporarily.

The case is now heading to the U.S. Supreme Court, which could deliver a decision as early as this summer. The administration argues that people in the country illegally or temporarily are not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the U.S. as the amendment intended, so their U.S.-born children should not receive citizenship. Trump has also made several controversial remarks at recent investor events that have drawn widespread attention.

Opponents strongly disagree. Justice Sonia Sotomayor called the administration’s defense “an impossible task in light of the Constitution’s text, history, this Court’s precedents, federal law, and Executive Branch practice.” ACLU legal director Cecillia Wang said, “We have the president of the United States trying to radically reinterpret the definition of American citizenship.”

Research from the Migration Policy Institute and Pennsylvania State University suggests over 250,000 babies born in the U.S. each year could be affected, including children of students and green card applicants.

One Argentine mother who came to the U.S. on a college visa in 2016 secured her U.S.-born son’s passport immediately after his birth. Speaking anonymously, she said, “Nothing that happens, politically or otherwise, would have changed my views of the country, because it gave me the most beautiful thing I have today, which is my family.”

Adding to the contradiction, while Trump attacks the idea of people buying citizenship, his own administration introduced a “Gold Card” program allowing immigrants to purchase citizenship for $1 million individually, or $2 million through a corporation.

His administration has also spent heavily on mass deportation operations across U.S. cities as part of its broader immigration crackdown. The Supreme Court’s upcoming decision will have a major impact on what American citizenship means going forward.