Ricketts Backs Bills to Reform Birthright Citizenship
by Lewis Thune
(Picture credit Senator Pete Ricketts’ Office)
Nebraska Senator Pete Ricketts announced Tuesday he would be supporting two bills to reform birthright citizenship in the United States.
In the aftermath of longtime South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham’s passing, Ricketts announced his support for Graham’s Birthright Citizenship Act of 2025, which would restrict birthright citizenship to the children of American citizens, permanent lawful residents, and aliens with lawful status in active service for the United States Armed Forces.
“Birthright citizenship was included in the U.S. Constitution to reconcile an incredible error in America. It was added to ensure those freed from slavery were granted American citizenship,” he said in a public statement. “This made our nation better.”
“Today, birthright citizenship is being exploited by bad actors and our adversaries,” he said, “Illegal immigrants and non-citizens are crossing our borders and having children, who are then given American citizenship automatically.”
He also pointed to birth tourism via American surrogacy as a major work-around of Constitutional intent.
“Our current policy also allows bad actors to game the system with birth tourism. Unrestrained birthright citizenship hands Communist China an opportunity to infiltrate our country. We must reform the system.”
To that effect, he also announced his support of Senator Rick Scott’s SAFE KIDS Act, which would bar foreign adversaries from using American surrogates.
Ricketts’ move also comes on the heels of the Trump Administration’s recent 6-3 Supreme Court loss on curtailing birthright citizenship. In a Wednesday press call, Ricketts stated that an act of Congress would be Constitutionally sound in a way Trump’s executive order was not.
“We have an opportunity to be able to pass legislation, and that has a different force of law than – for example – an executive order by the president, which actually doesn’t carry the force of law. It’s actually just a policy statement” he said.
When asked if he would back the administration’s call for a rehearing in the birthright citizenship case, he deferred.
“I will allow the Supreme Court to make the decision. They run their branch, we run ours.”
Ricketts concluded that while he was proud to be an American citizen and understood the appeal of American citizenship, becoming one is privilege, not a right:
“It is about more than being born on our soil. It’s about committing to our nation’s promise and holding to our values of freedom and democracy.”
With his Tuesday announcement, Ricketts became the ninth cosponsor of the late Sen. Graham’s bill. It currently sits in the Senate Judiciary Committee awaiting further action.
— Lewis Thune is a writing fellow with The Plains Sentinel.