@QasimRashid When the 14th Amendment was passed, quite a few African Americans were "illegal aliens": the transatlantic slave trade (but not slavery) was outlawed in 1807, with a January 1, 1808 start date, but that didn't stop it, so African Americans who were brought here anyway were technically here illegally (through no fault of their own). Congress surely knew this was going on when the 14th Amendment passed, so the intent must have been to make children of "illegal aliens" citizens.