MEAWW.COM / NEWS / HUMAN INTEREST

Is Donald Trump planning to end birthright citizenship? Internet reminds him his 'mom, wives are immigrants'

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

President Donald Trump is reportedly considering signing an executive order ending birthright citizenship before he leaves the Oval Office. According to a report in The Hill, sources revealed that drafts of a possible order have been circulating for some time, and there is now an internal discussion about finalizing it. According to one source familiar with the plans, 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.

If Trump’s plan succeeds, the Supreme Court would have to decide whether to stick to its century-old interpretation of the 14th Amendment, which holds that children of noncitizens are in fact “born in the United States and subject to its laws,” and therefore citizens by right, or to specifically exempt children born to unauthorized immigrants.

“Since taking office, President Trump has never shied away from using his lawful executive authority to advance bold policies and fulfill the promises he made to the American people, but I won’t speculate or comment on potential executive action,” White House deputy press secretary Judd Deere said in a statement. In 2018, Trump told Axios reporter Jonathan Swan in a taped interview that the US was the only country in the world with birthright citizenship, and that birthright citizenship is something that “they say” he can change simply with an executive order.

In August 2019, Trump once again said his administration was “very seriously” considering a measure to end birthright citizenship. Back in January, the Trump administration issued an order restricting visa applications for women believed to be traveling to the United States primarily to give birth. The Department of Justice has reportedly been consulted about a possible birthright citizenship order given it would deal with the legal implications of the new policy. White House chief of staff Mark Meadows also reportedly told aides to come up with possible policy priorities to push through in the two months before Inauguration Day.

RJ Hauman, the government relations director at the Federation for American Immigration Reform said, “The Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment was clearly intended to guarantee that emancipated slaves would properly be recognized as US citizens. It is a fundamental misapplication of this clause that US-born children of illegal aliens are granted automatic citizenship, much less the offspring of people who come here to simply give birth on American soil.”

But most people were critical of this. Political analyst Bill Kristol wrote on Twitter, “Trump’s departure features the familiar trifecta of authoritarianism (trying to overturn the election), irresponsibility (the pandemic), and nativism (planning to end birthright citizenship). Proud of my colleagues, right from the beginning, who stayed the course: Never Trump!” One Twitter user wrote, “Ending birthright citizenship is antithetical to the history of this country.” One Twitter user noted, “Trump's mother and two of his three wives are immigrants. And Trump regularly claims his father was born in Germany or Sweden. So does that mean we can deport the lot of them? Because that would be worth it for the few weeks until Biden could fix it.”