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The day after his government unveiled a regulation allowing it to detain migrant families with children indefinitely, President Trump also revived the debate on a much more radical step: the abolition of automatic American citizenship for any born in the United States.
Trump said Wednesday that the rule, enshrined in the constitution for more than 150 years and rooted in common law before, was "frankly ridiculous," and said the White House was looking very seriously to end a policy in the past, he called "a pole of attraction for illegal immigration".
Here's what you need to know about citizenship at birth and if the president can stop it.
Does the Constitution guarantee birthright citizenship?
Yes. The 14th Amendment says, "All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to their jurisdiction are citizens of the United States and the state in which they reside."
The jurisdiction section creates a very narrow exception that today applies essentially to the children of accredited foreign diplomats. Apart from this, the citizenship or immigrant status of the parents of a person has not been deemed to be likely to affect that right.
(The term "citizenship of birth" may also mean another way of giving birth to a US citizen: having a citizen parent.) This source of citizenship, created by federal law rather than directly by the Constitution, has not generally figured in the debate on illegal immigration, even if it comes out sometimes in the presidential elections.)
Can the President abolish it?
No, the president can not change the constitution. An order to remove or restrict the right to citizenship of the US-born would almost certainly be challenged in court, which would be a violation of the 14th amendment.
Mr. Trump had already discussed the idea of abolition, and some of his allies suggested that the wording of the jurisdiction in the amendment could be interpreted in such a way as to exclude children from "law abolition". undocumented immigrants. But the overwhelming consensus of legal experts is that such an argument would have no chance of winning in court.
Do other countries have the same policy?
According to a 2010 study, those in the Western Hemisphere generally do so, unlike those in the rest of the world, at least for people who are not legal residents. Several countries that, like the United States, had traditions of universal citizenship based on English common law, including Britain, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and the United States. India, have restricted or abolished this right in recent decades.
What do critics mean by "birth tourism", "chain migration" and "anchor babies"?
These terms, used by anti-immigration extremists and other critics of birthright citizenship, tend to associate two distinct consequences of politics.
Each year, thousands of pregnant women from other countries enter the United States on a valid visa, give birth to children who automatically get US citizenship, and then bring their baby home or in another country. The practice, sometimes called "Birth Tourism "is legal as long as the mother obtains her visa truthfully and respects the terms.
However, Mr. Trump and his supporters tend to talk more about pregnant women entering the country illegally to give birth to what they derisively call "anchor babies" that would give the family the chance to get pregnant. access to public benefits and a point of anchorage to a legal residence.
Undocumented immigrants gave birth to about four million children who are US citizensaccording to the Migration Policy Institute, a place of non-partisan research. But the vast majority did not cross the border in utero. The Pew Research Center found that parents of nine in ten children of these children entered the United States at least two years before giving birth, suggesting that parents have migrated for other reasons.
Whether they are high in the United States or abroad, American children of non-citizen parents who reach the age of 21 can sponsor family members to obtain permanent resident status. , like any other American citizen can – a practice bothered by critics as a "chain migration". Family sponsorship has been highlighted in the stories of tens of millions of immigrants to the United States over the last century.
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