The State Department refuses to comply with a provision in a congressional statute, the Foreign Relations Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2003, which requires the State Department to record a Jerusalem-born U.S. citizen's place of birth as ‘Israel’ if requested to do so by the citizen or his or her legal guardian. This particular instance of dereliction of the president's constitutional duty to "take care that the laws be faithfully executed" began during the Bush administration and is continuing apace during the Obama administration. An estimated 50,000 individuals, who were born in Jerusalem but are considered American citizens because of their parents' American citizenship, are affected.
