Former President Donald Trump pledged Tuesday that if returned to the White House he would end birthright citizenship immediately via an executive order, a move experts say would violate the U.S. Constitution.
“As part of my plan to secure the border on Day 1, I will sign an executive order making clear to federal agencies that under the correct interpretation of the law, going forward the future children of illegal aliens will not receive automatic U.S. citizenship,” Trump said in a campaign video.
Trump announced his plan on the 125th anniversary of United States v. Wong Kim Ark, the Supreme Court case that established the constitutional right to birthright citizenship.
Those arguing for restrictions on immigration have long sought the change and Trump toyed with it while in office, attracting criticism from both immigration advocates and legal experts, The Hill reported.
Trump claimed the revocation of US birthright citizenship was “in the process” and said: “It’ll happen … with an executive order,” The Guardian reported.
But it never happened. And it’s doubtful it would happen now, too, because the strategy relies on improper use of power.
Experts predicted then, and now, that any attempt to remove birthright citizenship by executive order would face immediate challenge and swift defeat.
The Guardian cited writings by Harvard law professor Laurence Tribe in 2018, in which Tribe said the proposal would have “no chance of surviving review, even by the judges and justices the president has appointed,” The Guardian said.
Language in the Fourteenth Amendment ratified in 1868 lays out the granting of citizenship at birth.
“All 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,” Section 1 of the amendment says.
The 14th amendment was adopted after the Civil War to guarantee equal rights for former slaves – immigration restrictionists argue that excludes the children of other groups like undocumented immigrants from its benefits, The Hill said.
In 1898, in US v Wong Kim Ark, the Supreme Court settled an outstanding question, ruling that the child of Chinese citizens born in the United States was automatically a citizen of the United States.
Trump falsely claimed in a 2018 interview with Axios that the United States was the “only” country with birthright citizenship.
“It was always told to me that you needed a constitutional amendment. Guess what? You don’t,” Trump said then. “We’re the only country in the world where a person comes in and has a baby, and the baby is essentially a citizen of the United States … with all of those benefits. It’s ridiculous. It’s ridiculous. And it has to end.”
The truth is that more than 30 other countries offer birthright citizenship, according to Business Insider.
