Birthright citizenship is relatively uncommon. There are 195 countries in the world, and only 30 of them have it — that’s just 15 percent

After SCOTUS opened the door to President Trump’s order to end birthright citizenship, the anniversary of the 14th Amendment takes on an added significance.

Unrestricted birthright citizenship — the characteristically New World notion that being born on a country’s soil is enough to make a person its inheritor and steward — represents American identity at its fullest and most audacious. It reflects a belief that the nation can enfranchise and enlist anyone in our grand experiment of self-governance.

If U.S. citizenship for Puerto Ricans is no longer secure, then neither is the colonial arrangement that produced it.

Over 2,800 American students were in Israel with Birthright when conflict with Iran escalated in June 2025, prompting evacuations, reroutes and a deeper reckoning with what connection to Israel really means.