Supreme Court birthright decision: How many people gain citizenship this way?

Today's Supreme Court decision did not weigh in on whether the Trump's executive order on birthright citizenship is constitutional, but the government's request to lift temporary blocks by district courts in related cases was granted in a 6-3 ruling.

For 157 years birthright citizenship has made anyone born in the United States a citizen – whether the child of citizens, foreign nationals living legally in the U.S. or unauthorized immigrants. The matter will return to lower courts, for now. 

During May 15 oral arguments, none of the justices voiced support for the Trump administration’s theory that the president’s order is consistent with the 14th Amendment’s citizenship clause and past Supreme Court decisions about that provision.

Changes to birthright laws would impact a large portion of the U.S. population. According to 2023 data from the U.S. Census, 22.8 million foreign-born, non-U.S. citizens live in the country.

Here's how many U.S. residents gained citizenship through birthright:

How many people gain citizenship through birthright?

According to estimates from the Migration Policy Institute and Penn State’s Population Research Institute, ending birthright citizenship would result in an average of 255,000 children being born in the U.S. without citizenship each year, and would increase the amount of unauthorized migrants living in the U.S. by 2.7 million by 2045, and 5.4 million by 2075.

The Pew Research Center found in 2022 that about 4.4 million U.S.-born children under 18 live with an unauthorized immigrant parent.

How many unauthorized immigrants live in the U.S.

The number of unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. has increased from the 1990s, peaking at 12.2 million in 2007, according to estimates from the Pew Research Center:

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