Trump Says He Will Void Birthright Citizenship Law Through Executive Order: NPR

President Donald Trump says "they're saying I can do it with an executive order."

Kevin Coombs / Reuters

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Kevin Coombs / Reuters

President Donald Trump says "they're saying I can do it with an executive order."

Kevin Coombs / Reuters

President Trump is planning to use an executive order to strip birthright citizenship from America's laws, rather than trying to change the Constitution through an Act of Congress. The potential move, which would be likely to trigger a number of legal challenges, would not be limited to the United States – which is currently guaranteed by the 14th Amendment.

Guess what? You do not, Trump said. He discussed the plan in an interview with Axios on HBO that is slated to air Sunday.

Birthright citizenship is granted in the 14th Amendment's first sentence: "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 where they reside."

The concept is based on juice soli – "right of the soil" – meaning that any child in the U.S. has a claim to citizenship, even if their parents lack legal documentation to be in the country.

Trump has mentioned the idea of ​​voiding the amendment before, most notably in August 2015, when the birthright issue became part of his hard-line policies on immigration as a presidential candidate. Now Trump is discussing the birthright of citizenship law just one week before U.S. voters will head to the polls for the 2018 midterm election.

The amendment became law in 1868, as a result of the Supreme Court 's Scott decision, which held that freed slaves were not U.S. citizens. Since then, its meaning and reach has been debated in Courts and in American society, with many questions centering on the phrase "the jurisdiction thereof."

"That means they are subject to the laws of the United States, which they can, for example, be prosecuted for violating American law," Suzanna Sherry's constitutional law professor told NPR in 2015.

The law excludes the children of foreign diplomats – and in the 1860s, it was intended to give peace of mind to immigrants.

As Sherry, who teaches at Vanderbilt University, told NPR in 2015, "The United States has had a positive attitude towards immigration and immigration. that their children born here would be citizens. "

To change the law, Sherry said, you would need to amend the 14th Amendment through the Supreme Court to overturn their earlier interpretation of the law and limit its benefits to people who are in the U.S. legally.

The president says he has the power to act on his own.

"You can definitely do it with an act of Congress," Trump said in the Axios on HBO interview. "But now they're saying I can do it with an executive order."

He added, "We are the only country in the world where we have a baby, and the baby is essentially a citizen of the United States for 85 years, with all of those benefits. and it has to end. "

Birthright citizenship is the law of at least 30 countries, including many of the U.S.'s neighbors in North and South America. All of the countries in Europe jus sanguinis – by "right of blood."

The president said he has spoken about the issue with the White House counsel. Trump said, "It's in the process. It'll happen – with an executive order."

Responding to the president's words, Mark Krikorian, the executive director of the nonpartisan Center for Immigration Studies, predicted, "This will be set up the short fight."

If Trump moves ahead with his plan, Krikorian said via Twitter, "the order will be enjoined, case will eventually reach SCOTUS, which will then be finally ruled out of the meaning of" subject to the jurisdiction. "

Krikorian said the executive order is "long overdue" – goal Trump's idea to revoke birthright citizenship is "ill-timed" and misguided, says Kristen Clarke, the executive director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.

"Aside from being unconstitutional, such an executive order would exacerbate racial tensions, exploit fears and drive further polarization across the country at a time that calls for the promotion of unity and inclusion," Clarke said.