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Panel: Who Gets to Be a Citizen?

Episode length: 42m

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A recent U.S. Supreme Court decision addressing birthright citizenship has renewed debate over one of the most consequential questions in immigration policy for any nation: Who should be entitled to citizenship?

To examine the current state of citizenship policy, especially as it relates to immigration, the International Network for Immigration Research (INIR) held a panel discussion featuring policy experts from the United States, France, Israel, and Hungary, hosted by the Center for Immigration Studies. The panel explored how different democracies define citizenship, the historical development of their laws, and the policy choices that shape them today.

While the United States has long interpreted the 14th Amendment to confer citizenship broadly on nearly all children born on U.S. soil, many countries have adopted different approaches. Some place greater emphasis on parental citizenship, while others have modified their laws over time; France, for example, revised its citizenship laws in the 1990s to move away from automatic citizenship at birth.

Host

Mark Krikorian is the Executive Director of the Center for Immigration Studies

Guests

Pawel Styrna is the Director of International Relations at the Federation for American Immigration Reform, Washington, D.C.

Nicolas Pouvreau-Monti is the Executive Director of the Immigration and Demography Observatory (OID), Paris.

Yonatan Jakubowicz is the Executive Director of the Israeli Immigration Policy Center, Jerusalem.

Viktor Marsai is the Executive Director of the Migration Research Institute, Budapest.

Links

Press Release

Video

Transcript

Live Stream

Intro Montage

Voices in the opening montage:

  • Sen. Barack Obama at a 2005 press conference.
  • Sen. John McCain in a 2010 election ad.
  • President Lyndon Johnson, upon signing the 1965 Immigration Act.
  • Booker T. Washington, reading in 1908 from his 1895 Atlanta Exposition speech.
  • Laraine Newman as a "Conehead" on SNL in 1977.
  • Hillary Clinton in a 2003 radio interview.
  • Cesar Chavez in a 1974 interview.
  • House Speaker Nancy Pelosi speaking to reporters in 2019.
  • Prof. George Borjas in a 2016 C-SPAN appearance.
  • Sen. Jeff Sessions in 2008 comments on the Senate floor.
  • Candidate Trump in 2015 campaign speech.
  • Charlton Heston in "Planet of the Apes".
Host:
Mark Krikorian