In the run-up to the 2024 US elections, with President Joe Biden opting out of the presidential race, a picture purportedly showing the birth certificate of US Vice President Kamala Harris is extensively shared on social media, suggesting that Harris is ineligible to hold the office of the US President because she was born to non-American parents in US.
The image caption reads: At the time of Kamala’s birth, her parents were not US citizens, but foreign students. As the daughter of non-citizens; she is an anchor baby. She is NOT eligible to hold the office of President of the United States.
The above post can be seen here (archive). More such posts can be seen here and here.
FACT CHECK
NewsMobile fact-checked the above claim, and found it to be misleading.
On scanning the picture purportedly showing Kamala Harris’ birth certificate, the NM team discovered a Facebook post 2019 (archive) making the same claim, suggesting that Harris is not eligible to hold the office of the US President because of her parents’ citizenship when she was born.
Searching for details about the citizenship laws regarding children born to immigrants in the US, we found ‘Myths & Facts about Birthright Citizenship’ on the American Immigration Council’s official website. The document confirms that children born in the United States to both legal and undocumented immigrants are US citizens by birth.
Since Kamala Harris was born in Oakland, California (as per the White House website), she became a US citizen by virtue of her birth in the country, regardless of her parents’ citizenship status at the time.
Scanning the US Constitution’s official website, we found the qualification requirements to run for the office of President in the United States in Article II, Section 1, Clause 5 which requires the President to be a natural-born citizen, at least thirty-five years of age, and a resident of the United States for at least fourteen years.
As per the White House website, Kamala Harris was born in Oakland, California. She graduated from Howard University and the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, and has served in public offices since 1990.
The above findings establish that Kamala Harris is a US citizen, and she is quite eligible to serve as President of the United States.
