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Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, right, greets volunteers as she prepares to phone bank at the DNC headquarters on Election Day, Nov. 5, 2024, in Washington. (AP) Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, right, greets volunteers as she prepares to phone bank at the DNC headquarters on Election Day, Nov. 5, 2024, in Washington. (AP)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, right, greets volunteers as she prepares to phone bank at the DNC headquarters on Election Day, Nov. 5, 2024, in Washington. (AP)

Kwasi Gyamfi Asiedu
By Kwasi Gyamfi Asiedu January 24, 2025

Trump’s birthright executive order doesn’t strip Kamala Harris’ US citizenship

If Your Time is short

  • President Donald Trump’s executive order restricting birthright citizenship does not apply to former Vice President Kamala Harris.

  • The executive order, if it survives legal challenges and is executed, is not retroactive and will take effect starting Feb. 19, 2025.

  • Kamala Harris was born Oct. 20, 1964. If both Harris’ parents were still on temporary visas and Trump’s order came six decade ago, perhaps Harris' citizenship would be in question.?

Although popular with his political base, President Donald Trump’s executive order seeking to end birthright citizenship has sparked confusion and nationwide legal challenges. The order, signed hours after Trump’s second inauguration started Jan. 20, aims to deny citizenship to children born in the U.S. in cases in which neither parent is a U.S. citizen or permanent resident.

A Seattle federal judge on Jan. 23 temporarily blocked the order’s execution, describing it as "blatantly unconstitutional."

But that didn’t come before viral posts claimed the order will strip U.S. citizenship from millions of people, including former Vice President Kamala Harris.

"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," a Jan. 20 Threads post said. "This order jeopardizes the citizenship of millions."

The post included a screenshot of a portion of the order that explained the directive applies to the children of people who are living in the U.S. without proper documentation and people who are in the U.S. lawfully but admitted temporarily, such as students and people on temporary work visas.

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The Threads post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Threads and Instagram.)

People commenting on the post indicated they believed the order could take away Harris’ citizenship status. But Trump’s order, should it be enforced, would not apply to Harris because the order isn’t retroactive.

The U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment established birthright citizenship?and several Supreme Court decisions have affirmed that all people born on U.S. soil automatically become U.S. citizens. Trump’s order seeks to change that.

Harris was born in October 1964 to an Indian mother and a Jamaican father. In her 2019 autobiography, "The Truths We Hold: An American Journey," Harris recounted that her parents came to the U.S. to study at the University of California, Berkeley.?

Her father, Donald Harris, came to study economics and her mother, Shyamala Gopalan came for a doctorate in nutrition and endocrinology. Harris said they met at Berkeley and had Kamala and her younger sister, Maya.

Featured Fact-check

When Kamala Harris was born, her mother was not a citizen, according to a 1965 temporary work visa approval the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services published. It is unclear whatDonald Harris’ citizenship or residency status were when Kamala Harris was born. But Kamala Harris’ birth certificate shows she was born in Oakland, California, and as such automatically became a citizen of the United States.

If both Harris’ parents were still on temporary visas and Trump’s order came 60 years ago, perhaps Harris' citizenship would be in question.?

The policy "shall apply only to persons who are born within the United States after 30 days from the date of this order," it said. If executed, the order is to take effect Feb. 19.

We rated a similar claim about Usha Vance’s citizenship being revoked by Trump’s order False. Vance was born in the U.S. to Indian parents who came to the U.S. as students. Although no one knows what the parents’ statuses were when the second lady was born, the order doesn’t apply to her because it is not retroactive.

On the same grounds, we rate the claim that Trump’s executive order would change Harris’ citizenship status False.

CORRECTION, Jan. 24, 2025: We have updated the statement being rated in this fact-check to better capture the misleading element of this claim.

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Our Sources

Threads post (archived link), Jan. 20, 2025

PolitiFact, President Trump’s birthright citizenship order won’t revoke Usha Vance’s U.S. citizenship, Jan. 21, 2025

PolitiFact, Birtherism is back, but Kamala Harris, born in California, is eligible to be president, July 22, 2024

The Seattle Times, Judge in Seattle blocks Trump order on birthright citizenship nationwide, Jan. 23, 2025

The White House, "Protecting The Meaning And Value Of American Citizenship," Jan. 20, 2025

San Jose Mercury News, Here’s Kamala Harris’ birth certificate. Scholars say there’s no VP eligibility debate, Aug. 18, 2020

The Mercury News, Here’s Kamala Harris’ birth certificate. Scholars say there’s no VP eligibility debate, July 22, 2024

USCIS, Shyamala Gopalan Harris, accessed Jan. 24, 2025

Harvard Law School, Can birthright citizenship be changed?, Jan. 24, 2025

CBS News, Falsehoods about Kamala Harris' citizenship status, racial identity resurface online as she becomes likely Democratic nominee, July 23, 2024

Cornell Law School, 14th Amendment, accessed Jan. 24, 2025

UC Berkeley, Shyamala Gopalan, accessed Jan. 24, 2025

Stanford University, Donald J. Harris, accessed Jan. 24, 2025

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Trump’s birthright executive order doesn’t strip Kamala Harris’ US citizenship

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