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By Billal Rahman
Immigration Reporter
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Rumors have been circulating on social media surrounding former Vice President Kamala Harris' eligibility to run for office after President Donald Trump signed an executive order ending birthright citizenship.
Newsweek has contacted Harris' office for comment via a contact form on her official website.
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Why It Matters
Claims that changes to birthright citizenship laws could retroactively disqualify Vice President Kamala Harris from becoming president are false. Harris, born in Oakland, California, in 1964, is a natural-born U.S. citizen under the 14th Amendment, which grants citizenship to anyone born on U.S. soil.
The Constitution prohibits retroactive laws, meaning future changes to birthright citizenship could not strip citizenship from those already granted it. Legal precedents and constitutional protections make Harris' eligibility for the presidency indisputable, despite misinformation circulating on social media.
What To Know
The false claim about Harris' eligibility first emerged in 2020—when she was selected as former President Joe Biden's running mate for the 2024 election—after John Eastman, a former legal adviser to Donald Trump, discussed a minority legal argument about the definition of who is a "natural-born citizen" in the U.S. Eastman referred to the residency status of Harris' mother and father—who are from India and Jamaica, respectively—at the time of her birth.
Harris' opponents resumed spreading the claim after she became the Democrats' presumptive presidential nominee, following Biden's announcement on July 21, 2024, that he would step aside. She went on to lose the election to Republican Trump.
Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution states: "No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution," says Section 1, "shall be eligible to the Office of President."
Birthright citizenship is the legal right for individuals born in a country to acquire citizenship regardless of their parents' nationality or legal status.
The Constitution 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. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."
What People Are Saying
David J. Bier, director of immigration studies at the Cato Institute, said in a post on X, formerly Twitter: "SHOCKING but not shocking. As I predicted, Trump's birthright citizenship EO includes a Kamala Harris clause, specifically designed to deny the legitimacy of her US citizenship as the child of someone with a temporary status. This order jeopardizes the citizenship of millions of people in the United States.
"It purports to limit the damage by applying it only to future children, but if they can get away with this blatantly unconstitutional action, they can strip anyone of their citizenship. The 14th Amendment would be dead. This order is an attack on American tradition, the rule of law, the Constitution, and indeed Americans themselves. Given how blatantly unconstitutional and how dangerous it is to the rights and freedoms of Americans, it is obviously impeachable if implemented."
Carol Nackenoff, Swarthmore College professor emerita of political science and author of American by Birth: Wong Kim Ark and the Battle for Citizenship told Newsweek: "The idea of Harris not being a US citizen is preposterous. We certainly assumed that anybody born on U.S. soil, with very few exceptions, was a birthright citizen, and that included the children of undocumented persons. Yesterday, when Trump signed this executive order, he relied on the fact that not every person born on US soil was considered a US citizen because they were not subject to its jurisdiction.
"So what did that mean? It meant that if foreign ministers, like an ambassador, or someone who was an invader, had a child here, they were not considered citizens. It's no accident that Trump uses the word invasion or invading army when he refers to what he calls illegal immigrants coming across the southern border because he's trying to set up a situation in which these people are considered invaders, and therefore their children should not be considered citizens. The executive order doesn't appear to apply retroactively. Does he have the power to alter the constitution through executive order? I would say no, but we will see because it's going to be contested."
Juliet Sorensen told The Associated Press in 2020 as a law professor at Northwestern University: "The VP has the same eligibility requirements as the president. Kamala Harris, she has to be a natural-born citizen, at least 35 years old, and a resident in the United States for at least 14 years. She is. That's really the end of the inquiry."
What Happens Next
Reports have circulated that Harris is mulling a bid for the 2026 Gubernatorial race in California or the Democratic nomination in 2028.
There is a precedent for losing political candidates running as their party's nominees in consecutive elections. Trump won in 2016 and lost in 2020, before returning to the White House.
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