On the 10th of February 2025, BBC Headline reads: “Trump wants to end birthright citizenship. Where do other countries stand?”, a report by Luis Barrucho.
From the report:
Birthright citizenship, or jus soli (right of the soil), is not the norm globally.
The US is one of about 30 countries – mostly in the Americas – that grant automatic citizenship to anyone born within their borders.
In contrast, many countries in Asia, Europe, and parts of Africa adhere to the jus sanguinis (right of blood) principle, where children inherit their nationality from their parents, regardless of their birthplace.
Hi my name is Terence and I’m your host for the Daily Monsoon, a podcast where I connect current affairs to matters of faith. Today we look at citizenship and birthright.
When I first heard of the American way, I thought, “No way! That’s crazy!”
Coming from this part of the world, being a citizen is a right passed down from the parents. And while there are debates on whether it should be mother side, or father side or both, generally we agree that to be citizen here, your parents need to be a citizen too.
I always thought it strange that all you had to do to be an American citizen was to be born there. You mean to say, a pregnant woman could give birth on the plane above U.S. soil and the child would be an American citizen regardless of who the parents are. Wow!
When you consider how desperate people are to get into the U.S. You have Green Card scandals where people would marry Americans just to get in. You have border coyotes getting paid thousands to smuggle people through tunnels to get in. When Kabul fell, you have people hanging onto planes to get out of Afghanistan and I guess hoping to get into America.
And all you have to do, to get your child to be an American, is just to give birth in America. That’s just crazy.
So, when Trump announced these changes I thought it made sense. It would be harsh to revoke citizenship from those who are already citizens. People have their families, jobs, schools, and I don’t think it’s fair to revoke what has already been given to them. But if the policy change means rejecting applications, that doesn’t sound unreasonable.
The article shares what other countries practise. I quote:
India, for example, once granted automatic citizenship to anyone born on its soil. But over time, concerns over illegal immigration, particularly from Bangladesh, led to restrictions.
And another one:
Europe has also seen significant changes. Ireland was the last country in the region to allow unrestricted jus soli.
It abolished the policy after a June 2004 poll, when 79% of voters approved a constitutional amendment requiring at least one parent to be a citizen, permanent resident, or legal temporary resident.
The government said change was needed because foreign women were travelling to Ireland to give birth in order to get an EU passport for their babies.
So Trump’s policy here doesn’t seem all that unreasonable. In fact, compared to most of the world America is behind the curve.
If American is strange for allowing any one born in it to be American, then Israel is strange for allowing any Jew born anywhere to be Israeli.
In 1950, the Israeli Parliament passed the Law of Return. I am reading this from Wikipedia, the then Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion said:
This law does not provide for the State to bestow the right to settle upon the Jew living abroad; it affirms that this right is inherent in him from the very fact of being a Jew; the State does not grant the right of return to the Jews of the diaspora. This right preceed the State; this right build the State; its source is to be found in the historic and never broken connection between the Jewish people and the homeland.
Does any other country give a free citizenship by virtue of race? Does Italy welcome all Italians? Does Egypt welcome all Egyptians? Does China welcome all Chinese? I am naming old civilisations, Rome, Egypt, China, because as I understand it, the Jewish Law of Return means if you can prove you are a Jew, it does not matter how many generations ago your ancestors left Israel, you are welcome back to the homeland.
This policy exists because the Jews remember what it is like to be without a home. During World War 2, when Jews were being persecuted, rounded up and caged like animals, they had nowhere to go. And so, the Law of Return is a law in place to make sure it never happens again. Whatever happens to any Jew in the world, he will know he can always return to Israel.
It’s the same for Christians.
Wait, is there a country where Christians can run to when persecuted?
In the past, some would have said America is the country to run to if you are a persecuted Christian. Many Western countries are open for asylum seekers, for Christians and non-Christians. But I’m not looking at a country in the here and now, I speak of the country that the Bible speaks of.
In Philippians, Paul speaks of our citizenship in heaven.
In Colossians, we were transferred from a domain of darkness into the kingdom of God’s beloved son.
In Hebrews, the writer writes that believers have arrived at Mount Zion, city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, gathering of angels, assembly of the firstborn, and arrived before God, the spirits of the righteous made perfect and Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant.
While some people are fighting to be US citizens, maybe they should be fighting to enter the kingdom of heaven.
While Israel offers citizenship to every Jew, Jesus offers citizenship to everyone who believes.
The citizenship offered to us can never be revoked by any President or granted by any Prime Minister. It is a citizenship granted to us by decree of the King of kings and the Lord of lords.
This is the Daily Monsoon, a podcast where I connect current affairs to matters of faith. Thanks for listening.