Is Kamala Harris not a ‘natural born citizen’? Row over US Presidential candidate’s eligibility surfaces again; Fact Check

Claim: Kamala Harris, who was born to immigrant parents in California, is not a “natural born citizen” of the United States and hence ineligible for US Presidential race.

Conclusion: The claim is false. Kamala Harris is a “natural born citizen” of the United States and hence, eligile to be US Presidential candidate.

Rating: Misleading —

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A social media post surfaced soon after US President Joe Biden’s announcement that he is withdrawing from the 2024 Presidential race on July 21, 2024. He also endorsed his Vice Presidential candidate Kamala Harris as the Democrats’ candidate in his place. The social media post claimed that Kamala Harris is not eligible to run for US president as she’s not a “natural born citizen”.

Kamala Harris is not a natural born citizen! pic.twitter.com/WdbR8jNge1

— DivaPatriot 🇺🇸 (@TeamAmerica2020) July 21, 2024

The claim can be seen in FaceBook too as below:

The claim says, “Her (Kamala’s) father was a Jamaican national, her mother was from India, and neither was a naturalized U.S. citizen at the time of Harris’ birth in 1964… That, makes her not a “natural born citizen” — and therefore ineligible for the office of the President.”

FACT-CHECK

The claim is not new and it was raised when Kamala Harris was picked up as his Vice Presidential mate by Joe Biden four years ago in 2020. Now that she is tipped to replace Biden as the Presidential candidate of Democrats, the old controversy is being raised again. However, the US Constitution is categorical about the eligibility of a Presidential Candidate.

What the US Constitution Says:

Article II of the US Constitution says: “No person except a natural born citizen… shall be eligible to the office of President.” And the Fourteenth Amendment of the US Constitution 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”.

Her birth certificate uploaded by Bay Area News Group shows the details as below. She was born on Oct. 20, 1964, in Oakland, California.

This entails Kamala Harris, who was born in California, to be a “natural born citizen” of the United States. Moreover, the eligibility conditions remain same for both President and Vice President under the US Constituion. As a serving Vice President, she has cleared this condition already and hence, eligible run for the US Presidential race. The claim is false.

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