Oct 30, 2018 - Politics & Policy

Reality check: The U.S. is far from the only country with birthright citizenship

Trump

Photo: Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images

In an interview with "Axios on HBO", President Trump falsely claimed that the U.S. is "the only country in the world where a person comes in and has a baby, and the baby is essentially a citizen of the United States ... with all of those benefits."

Reality check: More than 30 other countries — mostly in the Western Hemisphere, specifically in the Americas — offer birthright citizenship, including Canada and Mexico, according to World Atlas.

The full list, per World Atlas:

  • Antigua and Barbuda
  • Argentina
  • Barbados
  • Belize
  • Bolivia
  • Brazil
  • Canada
  • Chile
  • Cuba
  • Dominica
  • Ecuador
  • El Salvador
  • Fiji
  • Grenada
  • Guatemala
  • Guyana
  • Honduras
  • Jamaica
  • Mexico
  • Nicaragua
  • Panama
  • Paraguay
  • Peru
  • St. Kitts and Nevis
  • St. Lucia
  • St. Vincent and the Grenadines
  • Trinidad and Tobago
  • United States
  • Uruguay
  • Venezuela

Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly noted that the Dominican Republic offers birthright citizenship. It has been updated to reflect that it is the island of Dominica that offers birthright citizenship.

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