Why the Constitution does not say that children of illegal aliens are citizens Lawrence Auster

Earlier today, while writing something up on the Hazleton decision (pdf version of the decision is here), I thought I would memorize Section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment, so that I wouldn't have to keep constantly looking it up every time I needed to quote it. As my eyes and mind focused on the famous first sentence,

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside....

it suddenly came to me why, notwithstanding the literal meaning of the words, "All persons born ... in the United States ... are citizens of the United States," it is incorrect to believe that the Fourteenth Amendment means that a child born in the United States of an illegal alien mother is an American citizen.

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