Short answers, pulled from the story.
The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified in 1868. This amendment declared that all persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to its jurisdiction are citizens.
In 1898, the Supreme Court ruled in United States v. Wong Kim Ark that an ethnic Chinese person born in the United States became a citizen under the Fourteenth Amendment regardless of their parents nationality. This decision affirmed that soil determines citizenship status for most people born on American territory.
Application fees for U.S. citizenship rose from $330 to $595 plus an additional $80 computerized fingerprinting fee in 2007. This marked a significant increase in the cost of becoming a citizen compared to previous years.
American Samoa remains the only unincorporated territory where newborn infants become non-citizen U.S. nationals at birth rather than full citizens because the Fourteenth Amendment does not extend birthright citizenship there. A 2016 ruling by the D.C. Circuit Court upheld this government position regarding the distinction between nationality and citizenship.
Male United States citizens must register for the military draft within thirty days of their eighteenth birthday even though the country maintains an all-volunteer force since the end of the Vietnam War. This requirement applies regardless of whether the individual serves voluntarily or not.