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Constitutional proposals
Citizenship and voting amendments
Two separate Article V proposals concerning citizenship at birth and lifetime voting ineligibility after unlawful entry.
Current constitutional rules continue to govern. These provisions require ratification before they can operate. The residence-and-work program would not need to wait for their ratification.
Companion A. Citizenship at birth
Proposed Article V joint resolution. The two-citizen-parent requirement below would amend the constitutional rule. It is not made effective by the ordinary bill.
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, two-thirds of each House concurring, that the following article is proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States and shall become valid when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States:
Section 1. Prospective citizenship at birth.
Notwithstanding the first sentence of section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment, a person born in the United States on or after the effective date of this article shall be a citizen of the United States at birth only if both of the person's parents were citizens of the United States at the time of the person's birth.
Section 2. Parentage and administration.
Congress shall provide uniform rules for proving parentage and parental citizenship, including rules for assisted reproduction, adoption, deceased parents, and disputed or unavailable records. Those rules shall not dispense with the requirement that both parents be citizens at the time of birth. An absence of records alone shall not substitute for an individual determination after notice and an opportunity for review.
Section 3. Existing citizenship and later naturalization.
This article shall not revoke citizenship acquired before its effective date. It governs citizenship at birth within the United States; subsequent naturalization remains subject to the Constitution and laws enacted by Congress. A child's lack of citizenship at birth shall not itself authorize detention or removal without the process required by applicable law.
Section 4. Enforcement and effective date.
Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. Sections 1 through 3 shall take effect 180 days after ratification. No executive officer may implement the two-parent rule before that effective date.
Companion B. Permanent voting bar after unlawful entry
Proposed Article V joint resolution. It would reach federal, state, territorial, and local public elections and cannot be presented as effective law before ratification.
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, two-thirds of each House concurring, that the following article is proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States and shall become valid when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States:
Section 1. Permanent disqualification.
A person who voluntarily entered the United States as a noncitizen without inspection and admission or parole, whether before or after ratification of this article, shall be permanently ineligible to vote in a federal, state, territorial, or local public election after a final determination under Section 2. Later residence, a change in immigration classification, naturalization, or another later acquisition of citizenship shall not remove that disqualification.
Section 2. Individual adjudication.
The United States shall establish unlawful entry by clear and convincing evidence in an individual proceeding before a neutral decision maker. The person shall receive notice, an opportunity to obtain counsel at the person's expense, meaningful access to the evidence subject to lawful security protections, an opportunity to contest the charge, a reasoned decision, and judicial review. Disqualification shall not become final while timely review is pending. An agency list or inference from ethnicity, ancestry, language, religion, or another person's conduct shall not establish unlawful entry.
Section 3. Scope and existing citizens.
For this article, an overstay following lawful admission, entry as a United States citizen, or presentation at a port of entry to seek a lawful determination is not unlawful entry. A parent's conduct shall not automatically be attributed to a child. This article shall not disqualify a person who already held United States citizenship on the date of ratification.
Section 4. Enforcement and effective date.
Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation and shall provide uniform procedures for correcting erroneous voting records. This article shall take effect 180 days after ratification. No voting disqualification created solely by this article shall operate before that date.
Drafting choices and unresolved issues
Residence and work
PADS would last three years, followed by renewable five-year American Dream Resident Status. This is a separate noncitizen classification and does not confer a green card or a citizenship pathway.
Permanent naturalization bar
The bill would bar naturalization for program beneficiaries, including derivatives, and for noncitizens with a final unlawful-entry determination. Marriage, later status, or time alone would not remove the proposed bar. Retroactivity and constitutional validity require legal review.
Meaning of unlawful entry
The draft uses an individual finding of voluntary entry without inspection, admission, or parole. An overstay after lawful admission is a different category. The bar is not inherited from a parent.
Countries
The draft expressly excludes current nationals of the People's Republic of China, Somalia, and Haiti. Dual nationality does not bypass an exclusion. Eligibility for all other nationalities depends on an exhaustive published schedule that has not yet been selected.
Existing rights
The draft does not revoke citizenship already held at enactment. Companion A applies only to future births after ratification and its effective date. Companion B preserves voting eligibility for people already citizens when it is ratified.
Constitutional process
Each companion resolution requires an Article V process. The proposed congressional route requires two-thirds of each chamber and ratification by three-fourths of state legislatures. A presidential signature on the ordinary bill would not accomplish either constitutional change.
Review before introduction
This remains an independent discussion draft. Legislative counsel must resolve nationality-law conflicts, treatment of derivative children, parentage and statelessness consequences, evidentiary standards, and constitutional objections. No government has approved this proposal.