The first sentence of the 14th Amendment reads: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United Stat... moreThe first sentence of the 14th Amendment reads: "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."...The question about whether or not a child born in the US is automatically a citizen, comes down to the meaning of "jurisdiction". Are foreigners "subject to the jurisdiction" of the United States, just by being IN the United States (or its territory)?...The legal definition of jurisdiction is "the authority given by law to a court to try cases and rule on legal matters within a particular geographic area and/or over certain types of legal cases." According to this definition, if foreigners are NOT subject to the jurisdiction of the US then American police could not arrest them - and they could not be tried in American courts. This is the protection foreign diplomats get with "diplomatic immunity". If every foreigner had this protection, there would be no need for a special exemption for diplo... less
