What Ireland and Germany Can Teach Us About Birthright Citizenship

Mariam Sobayo came achingly close to feeling like she belonged in Ireland.She was born in Dublin on Feb.10, 2005, just a few weeks after the country halted its longstanding practice of granting citizenship to all children born on Irish soil.

Her parents immigrated to Ireland from Nigeria in 2001, and she is the youngest of five children.Two of her older sisters were born in Ireland in 2002 and 2004.Because of the timing, they were automatically Irish citizens.

For Ms.Sobayo, it would take years of filing paperwork and waiting for answers to finally obtain her citizenship at 18.“I was born in Dublin, I never left Dublin,” she said of growing up in the Irish capital, and described getting exceptional grades in Irish language studies in school.

“It’s like, ‘Oh, here’s this new citizenship.’ Where I’m like, I’ve been here since Day 1.”Without a passport, she could not travel outside the country, even as classmates went on school trips.When her Irish naturalization was approved, she felt a mix of relief and anger.

“I feel like it was carrying a heavy weight that wasn’t supposed to be mine,” Ms.Sobayo said.

She is now a social worker, caring for children seeking international protection.In the coming weeks, the U.S.Supreme Court will issue its decision in a landmark case through which the White House has sought to end the 157-year-old legal standard of birthright citizenship.When President Trump talks about this issue, he calls America “STUPID” for automatically granting citizenship to U.S.-born children of immigrants.

The policy does stand out for its permissiveness: Although many countries in Central and South America have similar laws, most nations require that at least one parent be a citizen for a child to qualify.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times ac...