How many naturalized citizens serve in current US Congress?
Executive summary
Pew’s count for the 119th Congress identifies at least 80 members who are foreign‑born or have at least one foreign‑born parent, and it separately reports 61 foreign‑born members in the House and 19 in the Senate as of Jan. 3, 2025 [1]. Official House clerk material catalogs foreign‑born representatives with birthplaces — a primary source for identifying which members were born abroad — while Senate pages list senators born outside the U.S. [2] [3].
1. What people usually mean by “naturalized members of Congress” — and why the number varies
“Naturalized” refers specifically to lawmakers who were born abroad and later acquired U.S. citizenship, as opposed to those born overseas to American parents or those born in U.S. territories. Pew’s public tally groups foreign‑born members with those who have foreign‑born parents but also provides the split of foreign‑born House and Senate members (61 House, 19 Senate), which is the clearest snapshot for counting naturalized lawmakers in the 119th Congress [1]. The official Clerk of the House list of foreign‑born members provides individual birthplaces to verify who was born overseas [2]. The Senate’s “Senators Born Outside the United States” page similarly helps identify senators born abroad [3].
2. Best contemporary counts: Pew and the Clerk are the practical sources
Pew Research’s analysis is explicit about methodology and scope: it reports “at least 80 lawmakers are foreign born or have at least one parent who was born in another country,” and notes its Jan. 3, 2025 snapshot reflects biographical information compiled from CRS and other sources [1]. The House Clerk’s PDF lists foreign‑born representatives in the 119th Congress with individual birthplace entries that let reporters separate naturalized members from those born abroad to U.S. parents [2]. Those two sources combined are the practical, citable route for counting naturalized members [1] [2].
3. How to move from “foreign‑born” to “naturalized” in practice
Available sources show you must examine member biographies individually. Pew excludes members born abroad to American parents from its foreign‑born tally, but still counts both foreign‑born members and those with at least one foreign‑born parent together in its headline figure [1]. The Clerk’s list supplies the birthplace for each House member born outside the U.S., enabling verification of whether a lawmaker likely naturalized [2]. The Senate site flags senators born outside the United States and provides the historical context for citizenship requirements, which helps separate natural‑born by parentage from naturalized members [3].
4. Why small differences in counting can produce different totals
Different organizations apply different rules: some include foreign‑born members who acquired citizenship at birth through an American parent; others count only those who naturalized after birth. Pew’s headline—“at least 80 lawmakers are foreign born or have at least one parent who was born in another country”—combines categories and therefore overstates the number if you seek only naturalized members; its explicit House/Senate split (61 and 19) is the cleaner starting point for isolating foreign‑born lawmakers who likely naturalized [1]. The Clerk’s detailed birthplace list is necessary to resolve edge cases [2].
5. What current reporting does not say (limits and next steps)
Available sources do not publish a single definitive count of “naturalized” members as opposed to “foreign‑born” members; you must cross‑reference Pew’s totals with the Clerk (House) and Senate biographical pages to determine who naturalized versus who was a U.S. citizen at birth [1] [2] [3]. If you want a precise, legislator‑by‑legislator accounting of naturalized status, the responsible next step is to compile the Clerk’s birthplace list and check each member’s official biography or CRS profile to confirm naturalization timing — a process reflected in how Pew constructed its dataset [1] [2].
6. Political context worth knowing
Reporting on foreign‑born and naturalized members is occurring amid high‑profile debates over citizenship rules and executive actions in 2025; the White House’s January 2025 order and congressional bills touching birthright citizenship have elevated public interest in who in government is foreign‑born or naturalized [4] [5]. Advocacy and legal groups note both the constitutional protections for citizenship and the high legal hurdles for revoking naturalized status, underscoring why accurate public counts matter in this politically charged environment [6] [4].
If you want, I will compile a legislator‑by‑legislator list from the House Clerk and Senate pages and flag which members’ public bios state they naturalized after birth so you get a precise “naturalized members of Congress” number tied to primary sources [2] [3] [1].