{"id":7842,"date":"2025-07-16T12:42:50","date_gmt":"2025-07-16T16:42:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www2.law.temple.edu\/voices\/?p=7842"},"modified":"2025-07-16T12:42:50","modified_gmt":"2025-07-16T16:42:50","slug":"why-does-america-have-birthright-citizenship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www2.law.temple.edu\/voices\/why-does-america-have-birthright-citizenship\/","title":{"rendered":"Why does America have birthright citizenship?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Why does America have birthright citizenship?<\/p>\n

Restrictions on birthright citizenship, while common in Europe, are generally not found in the Americas. Prof. Peter Spiro tells The Economist that this Atlantic divide dates back to settler societies using birthright citizenship as “an engine of assimilation.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Why does America have birthright citizenship? Restrictions on birthright citizenship, while common in Europe, are generally not found in the Americas. Prof. Peter Spiro tells The Economist that this Atlantic divide dates back to settler societies using birthright citizenship as “an engine of assimilation.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7843,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"audience":[],"coauthors":[13,244],"class_list":["post-7842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faculty-in-the-media"],"yoast_head":"\r\nWhy does America have birthright citizenship? - Voices at Temple<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www2.law.temple.edu\/voices\/why-does-america-have-birthright-citizenship\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why does America have birthright citizenship? - Voices at Temple\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Why does America have birthright citizenship? Restrictions on birthright citizenship, while common in Europe, are generally not found in the Americas. Prof. Peter Spiro tells The Economist that this Atlantic divide dates back to settler societies using birthright citizenship as “an engine of assimilation.”\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www2.law.temple.edu\/voices\/why-does-america-have-birthright-citizenship\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Voices at Temple\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-07-16T16:42:50+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www2.law.temple.edu\/voices\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/5.1.2025_PeterSpiro_TheEconomist.jpg\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"840\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"560\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Peter J. Spiro, Beckie Schatschneider\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Peter J. Spiro, Beckie Schatschneider\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www2.law.temple.edu\\\/voices\\\/why-does-america-have-birthright-citizenship\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www2.law.temple.edu\\\/voices\\\/why-does-america-have-birthright-citizenship\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Beckie Schatschneider\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www2.law.temple.edu\\\/voices\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/505b7875ef49205bf81379b92d47f94e\"},\"headline\":\"Why does America have birthright citizenship?\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-07-16T16:42:50+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www2.law.temple.edu\\\/voices\\\/why-does-america-have-birthright-citizenship\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":50,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www2.law.temple.edu\\\/voices\\\/why-does-america-have-birthright-citizenship\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www2.law.temple.edu\\\/voices\\\/cms\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/07\\\/5.1.2025_PeterSpiro_TheEconomist.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Faculty in the Media\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www2.law.temple.edu\\\/voices\\\/why-does-america-have-birthright-citizenship\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www2.law.temple.edu\\\/voices\\\/why-does-america-have-birthright-citizenship\\\/\",\"name\":\"Why does America have birthright citizenship? 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