Trump To End Birthright Citizenship By Executive Order

Donald Trump has wanted to end birthright citizenship for years -- the idea that anyone born in the United States is automatically a citizen of the U.S., regardless of whether their parents are citizens or not. The idea is guaranteed by the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution.

There is a belief among some on the extreme right that the 14th Amendment was just intended to recognize the citizenship of freed slaves, and does not extend to the children of non-citizen immigrants. Trump is one of those who believe this.

Aides say he is going to issue an executive order before leaving office that will end birthright citizenship. Most in the legal community agree that the order would be unconstitutional, and would be quickly overturned by our courts. But it looks like Trump will try it anyway, hoping that the right-wingers on the court will back him.

Here is part of how Brett Samuels reports this in The Hill:

The Trump administration has revived discussions around taking executive action targeting birthright citizenship in its final weeks before leaving office, according to two people familiar with the discussions.

President Trump has spoken throughout his first term about ending birthright citizenship. Drafts of a possible order have been circulating for some time, and there is now internal discussion about finalizing it before the Biden administration takes over in January, sources said.

The administration is aware the order would be promptly challenged in court, but officials would hope to get a ruling on whether birthright citizenship is protected under the 14th Amendment, according to one source familiar with the plans. Many lawmakers and experts have argued it is protected, but the courts have not definitively ruled on the issue. . . .

The president first proposed ending the practice that grants citizenship to those born in the United States during his 2016 presidential campaign. He revived the idea in 2018 during an Axios interview, saying he would sign an executive order to enact the change.

Trump in August 2019 again said his administration was “very seriously” considering a measure to end birthright citizenship.

In each instance, lawmakers and legal experts have pushed back on the idea and cast doubt on Trump's ability to unilaterally end birthright citizenship. They have asserted that birthright citizenship is protected under the 14th Amendment, which states, in part, that “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.”. . .

Even if an order targeting birthright citizenship fails on legal grounds as some of his other immigration measures have, or if it is quickly undone by the Biden administration, experts cautioned that it could still have a chilling effect on those seeking to come to the United States.