Sponsors (4)
The bill trades stronger fraud prevention and more consistent paternity verification for narrower automatic citizenship rules, increased delays and costs for families (especially low-income), privacy risks around genetic testing, and greater administrative burden on government agencies.
Immigrants and parents: Strengthens verification and reduces fraudulent claims by requiring longer documented U.S. physical presence for transmission of citizenship and by requiring DNA confirmation when paternity is in doubt.
Parents and families: Creates a standardized, HHS-accredited DNA testing process coordinated with DHS, increasing consistency and reliability of paternity determinations used for benefits and documentation decisions.
Children of U.S. citizens born abroad: Narrows who automatically acquires citizenship by imposing a 10-year physical presence requirement (including recent presence), which will make fewer children eligible, create administrative barriers, and raise risks of statelessness for some.
Parents and children (including U.S.-born to nonlawfully present mothers): Mandatory DNA requirements can delay issuance of passports, SSNs, and federal benefits, impose out-of-pocket testing costs on low-income families, and raise privacy and genetic-data misuse concerns.
Federal, state, and local agencies and families: Longer presence requirements and added DNA verification will increase adjudication complexity, appeals, legal uncertainty, and processing costs for DHS and related agencies, likely slowing decisions and straining resources.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Tightens parent physical-presence rules for birthright citizenship and requires DNA paternity testing (paid by parents) before federal documents are issued when the mother is not lawfully present.
Official title: To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to impose limits on birthright citizenship for aliens and illegal migrants.
Introduced July 14, 2026 by W. Greg Steube · Last progress July 14, 2026
Changes to federal law would narrow who can automatically receive U.S. citizenship at birth through a U.S. parent by increasing the parent's required years of physical presence in the United States and by requiring DNA paternity testing in specified cases. The bill raises cumulative and recent residence thresholds for transmission of citizenship and requires HHS‑accredited DNA testing, coordinated with DHS, before federal documents based on such citizenship may be issued when the mother is not lawfully present; testing costs are charged to parents or guardians.