Trump wants to end citizenship with an executive order

October 30, 2018/10 h 58 GMT / Update 11:24 GMT

By Adam Edelman

President Donald Trump said in an interview published Tuesday that he intended to sign an executive order that would end citizenship for the children of many immigrants to the United States.

Trump, in an interview with Axios, part of which aired Tuesday morning, said that citizenship "should end" and that it would "with an executive order".

"We are the only country in the world where a person comes in, has a baby and the baby is essentially a citizen of the United States for 85 years and enjoys all these benefits," said Trump. "It's ridiculous, it's ridiculous, and it must end."

"It's going on.This will happen with a decree," he said, adding that he had consulted the White House lawyer about it.

Under the Fourteenth Amendment, citizenship is granted to children born in the United States or the United States, to parents of immigrants in the country.

Trump commented "Axios on HBO". Excerpts from the interview were published Tuesday morning, but the entire interview will be broadcast Sunday night.

"I've always been told that you needed a constitutional amendment, guess what?" This is not the case, Trump said. "You can certainly do it with an Act of Congress, but now they say that I can do it simply with an executive order."

Execution, if and when it is signed, will almost certainly face legal difficulties because citizenship based on the birthright is rooted in the interpretation of a constitutional amendment. The "citizenship clause" of the Fourteenth Amendment states that "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".

Other immigration orders signed by Trump – including various amendments to his travel prohibitions – have been challenged in court. The case concerning the definitive ban on the president was referred to the Supreme Court (the court decided to maintain the last ban).

During the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump had called for an end to "birth citizenship," but had so far taken no action as president.

But in recent weeks, as the mid-term elections draw near, Trump has renewed his determination to stop migrants crossing the border, often tweeting about the subject and pledging to take radical action.

The Pentagon announced Monday that it would send 5,200 more troops to the US-Mexico border by the end of the week to prevent thousands of migrants and refugees by caravan from entering the country. .