Rep. Matthew Soper, a state representative from Colorado’s Western Slope region, took to X (formerly Twitter) arguing for an end to birthright citizenship.
Soper (R-Delta) wrote on X on Dec. 9: “It is time the U.S. evolve our legal system from one of jus soli to jus sanguinis. Developed by the need for people, the new world nations devolved away from jus sanguinis to jus soli, allowing anyone born to automatically have citizenship.”
Jus soli and jus sanguinis are legal terms that refer to birthright citizenship and citizenship by familial descent, respectively.
“Citizenship is more than where you were born. It’s your love for the nation, and willingness to fight and die in war, pay taxes to advance common goals, and participate in Republican principles like voting, juries, civil dialogue, and shared culture,” Soper wrote. “President Trump has vowed to end birthright citizenship and this will lessen the demand of foreign parents traveling to the U.S. to have an anchor baby that allows the whole family to immigrate.”
Soper’s claim about “anchor babies” is a decades-old anti-immigrant myth. Children born here to immigrant parents have to wait until they turn 21 years old to sponsor their immigrant parents for green cards, and then only if they can financially support their mother and father. Nevertheless, Soper is not alone in this view. President-elect Trump and conservatives on a national level have taken particular issue with birthright citizenship, which is enshrined in the U.S. Constitution via the 14th Amendment. Trump has, as Soper stated, promised to end birthright citizenship in an effort to follow through on his mass deportation plans. Trump has recently been quoted as saying he wants to send citizens who are minors ‘back’ with their families, deporting American citizens.
Soper claims that citizenship is not just about where you were born or even familial descent, but by adherence to so-called ‘Republican principles,’ which he ascribes to his own political party but include basic hallmarks of all democracies such as voting, taxes and juries. It is unclear whether Soper is arguing that the United States should be the entity that determines this “adherence.”
CTR has reached out to Rep. Soper’s office for comment and further clarification and will update this article if and when that request for comment is fulfilled.
If Soper is only claiming a move to citizenship via ‘jus sanguinis’, that legal change would still be inherently exclusionary. Jus sanguinis citizenship would exclude children of legal residents in the United States, as well as those of temporary workers, students, and others who are in the process of becoming U.S. citizens.
Denial of citizenship has wide-reaching impacts on those affected. Citizenship is a key to accessing healthcare, education, housing, and employment, among other key aspects.
This isn’t the first time Soper has made headlines with far-right statements on social media. Last year Soper called for a “civil war” over a push for gun safety bills by Democratic lawmakers in the state:
“Come and take it! They’ll have to invade the West Slope and murder us if they intend on us being defenceless! (sic),” reads Soper’s tweet. “We will NOT bow to tyrants and those who seek to disarms (sic) us need to be prepared for civil war!”
He later apologized for “some of the words” he used.
While ending birthright citizenship has become somewhat of a crusade for the far right, other members of the Colorado House of Representatives disagree with the notion. Rep. Elizabeth Velasco (D-Glenwood Springs) made history in Colorado in 2022 when she became the first Mexican-born state legislator.
“Rep. Soper and the MAGA Republicans are not only questioning one of the most important amendments of our constitution, they are harkening back to a time when only white men were citizens of the United States,” Velasco said in response to Soper’s remarks. “They are threatening equality and justice and all the progress we have fought and died for in this nation. We must come together and defend our freedoms. We must honor the struggles of those who came before us by never letting our guard down in the face of racist, sexist, anti-immigrant attacks. Colorado will continue to choose freedom and equality over hatred and oppression.”
The 14th Amendment was established in the aftermath of the Civil War, providing citizenship to those descended from enslaved Africans. The 14th Amendment laid out the legal framework for key civil rights rulings like Brown v. Board of Education, Loving v. Virginia, Mapp v. Ohio, and others.
