President Donald Trump incorrectly said that the US is "the only country" that automatically confers citizenship to children born in its territory. What's the situation like in Europe?
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00:00Which countries practice birthright citizenship?
00:08President Donald Trump recently said that the U.S. is the only country in the world
00:12that offers citizenship to a child born on its soil, regardless of the parent's nationality.
00:17Trump made the comments on his first day back in office as he sat in the Oval Office signing
00:22off a raft of executive orders attempting to enact one of his campaign promises.
00:27It's ridiculous. We're the only country in the world that does this with birthright,
00:32as you know. And it's just absolutely ridiculous.
00:36But this isn't true. Plenty of other countries practice the principle of unrestricted jus
00:41soli, meaning right of soil, including the U.S.'s neighbors, Canada and Mexico.
00:46Over in Europe, however, the majority of states practice the principle of jus sanguinis,
00:51which gives citizenship to a child if one or both of their parents are of that nationality.
00:56No country in the EU grants automatic and conditional citizenship to children born
01:01there to foreign parents, according to a European Parliament briefing.
01:05Some countries do have a form of jus soli, but it comes with conditions,
01:09most often that the parents must have lived in the country for a certain amount of time
01:14before the child is born. European countries that have such rules include Belgium,
01:18Germany, Ireland, Portugal and the U.K. Some states practice double jus soli.
01:23This is when children born in a country to foreign citizens can acquire citizenship at birth
01:28if at least one of their parents was also born in the country. Children automatically acquire
01:33citizenship this way in France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain.
01:38A U.S. judge has temporarily blocked Trump's executive order to redefine birthright citizenship,
01:44calling it blatantly unconstitutional. The president says he will appeal against the decision,
01:49paving the way for a lengthy court battle.
01:53you