1. Section 1 of the British Nationality Act 1981 states that a person is not a British citizen by birth unless 'his father or mother is a British citizen; or settled in the United Kingdom'.
2. In the USA, the Fourteenth Amendment would prevent such a course of action because of s 5, which places limits on the enforcement power of Congress by stipulating that '[a]ll 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', with the result that citizenship is conferred on those born within the United States and ‘subject’ to its ‘jurisdiction’: see US Constitution, Amendment XIV, section 1 (ratified 1868). Thus, the way in which the UK has been able to abolish pure territorial birthright citizenship, so as to deny citizenship to the children of illegal immigrants, would not be possible in the USA.
3. Kevin C Wilson, 'And Stay Out! The Dangers of Using Anti-Immigrant Sentiment as a Basis for Social Policy: America should Take Heed of Disturbing Lessons from Great Britain's Past' (1995) 24 GA J Intl & Comp L 567, 568.
4. East African Asians v United Kingdom (1973) 3 EHRR 76 (EComHR).