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WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to end citizenship rights for infants born in the United States to illegal parents as soon as he takes office next month.
Trump said in an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” earlier this month that he intends to do so through presidential action.
“Yes, it’s ridiculous and we’re going to end it,” Trump said.
But it is highly unlikely to abolish birthright citizenship, a principle that can be traced in the United States to the end of slavery and the Fourteenth Amendment in 1868. Here’s why:
What is birthright citizenship?
There are two types of citizenship recognized by the U.S. government. One is based on parentage and the other is based on place of birth.
The first type grants U.S. citizenship to children born abroad to at least one U.S. citizen parent. The other guarantees that right to everyone born on U.S. soil, except for children of foreign diplomats.
The 14th Amendment grants citizenship to everyone born in the United States. It provides that “all persons born or naturalized in the United States and all persons subject to the jurisdiction of the United States are citizens of the United States.”
Thirty years after ratification, the Supreme Court ruled that birthright citizenship applies to people born in the United States to immigrant parents. This has been interpreted to apply regardless of the legal status of the parents.
The case centers on Wong Kim Ark, who was born in San Francisco in 1873 to Chinese parents who are legal permanent residents. He left the United States briefly when he was 21 to visit his parents, who had returned to China by then. However, after returning to Japan, he was refused entry based on the Chinese Exclusion Act on the grounds that he was not a citizen. The country’s Supreme Court ruled that Wong became a citizen under the 14th Amendment to the Constitution.
How does the United States compare to the rest of the world?
During an interview on NBC, President Trump incorrectly said the United States was “the only country that has it.” In fact, more than 30 countries recognize birthright citizenship, most of them in the Western Hemisphere. Most countries around the world recognize citizenship by descent.
Sam Ehrman, a law professor at the University of Michigan who studies citizenship, said the U.S. model of birthright citizenship is part of the reason why more countries now have citizenship. said.
“If you have a system based on blood, you can end up with people who don’t get membership and spend their entire lives in their own countries, and their children, and their children’s children,” Arman said.
Inherent citizenship, he said, “serves as a way to ensure that the people who are ruled in a place are actually part of that place.”
Can President Trump end it?
Last year, in a post on his campaign website, Trump issued an executive order on his first day in office that required federal agencies to “at least ensure that future children become American citizens or lawful permanent residents.” “I will make a request to one parent,” he said. automatically become a U.S. citizen. ”
He said the order means children of undocumented immigrants “should not be issued passports or Social Security numbers, nor should they be eligible for certain taxpayer-funded benefits.” He said that it would be clear.
President Trump said on NBC that he would “hopefully” abolish birthright citizenship through executive action.
Legal scholars broadly agree that abolishing birthright citizenship is not within the president’s executive power, and that the only way to accomplish change is through the courts or a constitutional amendment.
Amending the Constitution is a rigorous process with high hurdles, requiring approval by two-thirds of both houses of Congress and ratification by three-quarters of each state legislature or convention.
President Trump was scheduled to sign an executive order during his first term that would eliminate birthright citizenship for immigrant children, targeting “anchor babies” and “birth tourism.” But he instead sidestepped the issue by issuing a rule denying visas to pregnant women who appeared to be coming to the United States primarily to give birth.
Republicans have also introduced bills in Congress that would abolish birthright citizenship, but none have passed. In September, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R.S.C.) introduced the Birthright Citizenship Act of 2024, which would eliminate birthright citizenship for children of illegal immigrants and tourists.
Following President Trump’s recent comments, Graham said he is also working on a constitutional amendment to end the practice, which he has vocally opposed for decades.
“One of the most precious things in the world is American citizenship,” Graham said at a press conference introducing the bill. “I understand why almost everyone in the world would want to come to the United States and obtain citizenship. But when it comes to granting American citizenship, we need an orderly process. We need a process that is not abused.”
Graham noted that there has never been a high court decision on a birthright citizenship case where the parents are in the country illegally or on temporary visas, and said the Supreme Court will likely take up the case. .
But Ehrman, a Michigan law professor, said even conservative courts are unlikely to move to abolish birthright citizenship.
“Wong Kim Ark was sentenced in a very anti-minority, very conservative court, but even there the text and the history are very clear,” he said. “If Wong Kim Ark was able to win in 1898, that precedent should hold in 2024.”
What kind of opposition will President Trump face?
Any move to abolish birthright citizenship will inevitably face legal challenges.
“Citizenship is both a collection of rights and a form of belonging. I think it’s very damaging to say that these people who are citizens are not actually Americans,” Ehrman said. .
Immigration experts have warned that stripping away birthright citizenship would lead to a sharp increase in the number of people in the United States illegally. Democratic lawmakers have voiced their opposition in response to President Trump’s recent comments.
“The concept of birthright citizenship is like the backbone of America. It’s really part of our history, and it should stay that way,” Congressman Adriano Espaillat of New York told CNN. Ta.
Some Republicans also oppose Trump. Then-House Speaker Paul Ryan broke with Trump in 2018, saying the president could not abolish birthright citizenship by executive order.
“As a conservative, I believe in following the clear text of the Constitution. In this case, the 14th Amendment is pretty clear, and that would require a very long constitutional process,” he said. Ta. “But what we obviously completely agree with the president on is the fundamental issue here: unchecked illegal immigration.”
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