{"id":9660,"date":"2025-06-30T15:33:40","date_gmt":"2025-07-01T00:33:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nukepro.net\/?p=9660"},"modified":"2025-06-30T15:58:55","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T00:58:55","slug":"ok-back-to-the-14th-amendment-it-was-1866-so-what-did-jurisdiction-mean-at-that-time-this-is-about-birthright-citizenship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nukepro.net\/9660\/","title":{"rendered":"OK Back To the 14th Amendment, It Was 1866, So What Did Jurisdiction Mean at That Time? This is About Birthright Citizenship"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

stock here: I think this is hands down the answer. No you can’t have an anchor baby if you are here illegally or just viisting. See definition from 1866 Dictionary at Bottom. But I think this is clear. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1866, the U.S. federal government’s ability to jail an alien (non-citizen) for an extended period was very limited. The primary power the federal government held over aliens was the power to exclude or deport them \u2014 not to imprison them for long periods solely due to their immigration status.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here’s a breakdown of the legal and historical context:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\ud83d\udd39 1. The Deportation Power Was Nascent
In 1866, there was no comprehensive federal immigration law. Most immigration matters were still handled by individual states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The federal government had not yet passed laws explicitly granting itself broad deportation authority. That came later, especially after:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Immigration Act of 1891, which established a federal bureaucracy to enforce immigration law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\ud83d\udd39 2. No Legal Basis Yet for Long-Term Detention
The Supreme Court had not yet ruled clearly on the federal government\u2019s power to detain non-citizens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were no federal statutes in 1866 authorizing long-term detention of aliens simply for being present unlawfully or for violating immigration rules (because the federal immigration system barely existed).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jailing could happen if an alien committed a crime (like any person), but immigration status alone wasn\u2019t a crime in 1866.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\ud83d\udd39 3. Detention Was Rare and Short-Term (If At All)
If authorities did detain someone for immigration-related reasons (e.g., to return them to their country), it was short-term and tied to their removal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Long-term, indefinite detention without a crime would likely have been seen as violating common law principles or habeas corpus rights at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\ud83d\udd39 4. Political Climate in 1866
Post-Civil War, the U.S. government was focused on Reconstruction and citizenship for freed slaves, not managing mass immigration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 14th Amendment was written that year, focusing on defining who is a citizen, not regulating non-citizens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2705 Conclusion:
In 1866, the federal government did not have the statutory or constitutional power to imprison aliens for long periods solely based on immigration status. Its control over aliens was mostly limited to refusing entry or deporting them if a basis existed. The development of long-term detention authority came decades later, with the rise of federal immigration laws and institutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let me know if you\u2019d like case law or legislation that marked the shift from deport-only to detention-plus-deportation authority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

stock here: I think this is hands down the answer. No you can’t have an anchor baby if you are here illegally or just viisting. See definition from 1866 Dictionary at Bottom. But I think this is clear. In 1866, the U.S. federal government’s ability to jail an alien (non-citizen) for an extended period was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nukepro.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nukepro.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nukepro.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nukepro.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nukepro.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9660"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nukepro.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9660\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9662,"href":"https:\/\/nukepro.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9660\/revisions\/9662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nukepro.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nukepro.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nukepro.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}