Rumours claim that Democratic presidential hopeful Kamala Harris is ineligible to hold the title of President of the United States because she was not a natural born citizen of the US, a constitutional requirement to be president.
The rumours have been spreading prolifically on social media, and were propelled by verified Twitter user Jacob Wohl who posted as such in a January 22nd tweet that reads as follows –
Kamala Harris is NOT eligible to be President. Her father arrived from Jamaica in 1961—mother from India arrived in 1960
Neither parent was a legal resident for 5 years prior to Harris’s birth, a requirement for naturalization
Kamala was raised in Canada
– Jacob Wohl Twitter feed (now removed.)
Kamala Harris is NOT eligible to be President. Her father arrived from Jamaica in 1961—mother from India arrived in 1960 Neither parent was a legal resident for 5 years prior to Harris’s birth, a requirement for naturalization Kamala was raised in Canada
A further tweet shows Harris’ yearbook photo at a high school in Montreal as “evidence” of its assertions that Harris is ineligible for the role of President of the United States.
While Wohl’s claims about the parents of Kamala Harris are indeed correct – her mother did come from India to the US in 1960 and her father from Jamaica in 1961 – his conclusion that this means Kamala Harris is not a natural born citizen is false.
Firstly, the fundamental requirements to be President of the United States are laid out in the US Constitution, that states –
No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty five years, and been fourteen Years a resident within the United States.
While the Constitution itself does not elaborate on what it means to be a “natural born citizen”, English common law dictates that anyone born in a country is a natural born subject – a distinction that was carried across to the United States at the time of its independence.
This distinction was later cemented in the 14 Amendment of the Constitution, ratified in 1868, that states “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”
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Neither the English common law nor the 14th amendment’s impact towards the presidential requirements and their accepted interpretation are considered significantly controversial, and are widely accepted, including by both mainstream political parties as well as mainstream ideologies.
As such, the accepted requirements to be President of the United States can be simplified to read –
– A person must have been born in the United States, or born to a parent who is a citizen of the United States.
– A person must be at least aged 35 years
– A person must have resided in the US for at least 14 years.
Kamala Harris was born in 1964, in California, and she has lived in the US since the late 1980s – after returning from an education in Canada. As such, she clearly meets all of the above stated requirements.
Unless you’re inclined to subscribe to baseless conspiracy theories, as many did with Barack Obama, then yes, Kamala Harris is eligible to hold the position of President of the United States.
Jacob Wohl, who popularized this particular hoax, is best described as a Twitter troll, and is perhaps most notable for a failed attempt to discredit Special Council Robert Mueller with allegations of rape. He has also promoted a number of baseless conspiracy theories, including the claim that President Obama was secretly born in Kenya.