Birthright Citizenship Fact Sheet Infographic


The information below was gathered from studies conducted by organizations such as The Center for Immigration Studies and The Pew Hispanic Center. This list is divided by how birthright citizenship impacts the population of the United States, what it costs the American taxpayer, the effects and costs of the birth tourism industry, and how the United State’s birthright citizenship practice compares to the rest of the world.

Birthright Citizenship Fact Sheet PDF



• In 2010, there were 4.5 million U.S.-born children whose parents were illegal.

• Nearly 200,000 children are born annually "to foreign women admitted as visitors, that is, tourists, students, guest workers, and other non-immigrant categories."

• 8% of all U.S. births (approximately 350,000 a year) come from at least one illegal-alien parent.

• As of March 2010, 11.2 million unauthorized immigrants were living in the United States.

• The population of U.S.-born children with illegal alien parents has expanded rapidly in recent years from 2.7 million in 2003 to 4.5 million by 2010.



• While illegal immigrants make up about 4%t of the adult population, “because they have high birthrates, their children make up a much larger share of both the newborn population (8%) and the child population (7%) in this country.”



• Illegal aliens can obtain welfare benefits such as Medicaid and food stamps on behalf of their U.S.-born children. Many of the welfare costs associated with illegal immigration, therefore, are due to the Executive Branch’s current interpretation of the 14th Amendment’s Citizenship Clause.

• Currently, 71% of illegal-alien headed households with children make use of at least one major welfare program.



Birth Tourism

• The number of birth tourists coming to the United States each year is very roughly around 35,000 to 36,000 people based on the limited governmental data available.

• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that 896,363 women who gave birth in 2012 indicated that they were born outside of the United States. If only 2 or 3 percent of these births were to women who are engaging in birth tourism, it would mean the United States sees 18,000 to 27,000 births annually.

• Birth tourists have defrauded hospitals and taxpayers by taking advantage of healthcare meant for the indigent. In one case, a birth tourist paid just $4,080 of a $28,845 hospital bill. Investigations revealed that their bank account had charges at Louis Vuitton, Rolex, and the Wynn Las Vegas Hotel.

U.S. Compared to the World

• Of advanced economies, as rated by the International Monetary Fund, Canada and the United States are the only countries that grant automatic citizenship to children born to illegal aliens.

• Only 30 of the world’s 194 countries grant automatic citizenship to children born to illegal aliens.

• Countries that have ended universal birthright citizenship include the United Kingdom, which ended the practice in 1983, Australia (1986), India (1987), Malta (1989), Ireland, which ended the practice through a national referendum in 2004, New Zealand (2006), and the Dominican Republic, which ended the practice in January 2010.

Birthright Citizenship