United States President, Donald Trump, on Monday, signed an executive order that effectively ends birthright citizenship in the country.
This was part of a broader set of executive actions, which also included granting pardons to approximately 1,500 individuals involved in the January 6 insurrection.
Despite significant legal challenges expected to follow, the order is aimed at terminating the policy of granting citizenship to anyone born on U.S. soil.
This move contradicts the prevailing legal understanding that the U.S. Constitution guarantees citizenship to most individuals born in the country.
Trump’s executive order directs federal agencies to withhold U.S. citizenship from children born in the U.S. to mothers who are either in the country illegally or on temporary visas, provided that the father is neither a U.S. citizen nor a lawful permanent resident.
This change comes in direct conflict with the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which grants birthright citizenship to those born or naturalized in the U.S. and subject to its jurisdiction.
The 14th Amendment’s first sentence clearly stated, “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 wherein they reside.”
Proponents of stricter immigration policies argue that birthright citizenship serves as a “magnet for illegal immigration,” claiming that it encourages undocumented women to enter the U.S. to give birth, a practice derisively referred to as “birth tourism” or producing an “anchor baby.”
According to Trump’s order, any child born in the U.S. starting 30 days from now will not be granted U.S. citizenship or a passport unless at least one parent is an American citizen or a permanent resident.
The only exception to this rule would be if both parents hold diplomatic status, which grants immunity from U.S. laws.
More than a century ago, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that children born on U.S. soil to foreign parents are automatically U.S. citizens under the 14th Amendment.
The ruling stands unless both parents are diplomats with immunity, which remains the only recognized exception.
The 14th Amendment was adopted in 1868, following the Civil War and the abolition of slavery through the 13th Amendment in 1865.
It resolved the issue of citizenship for freed American-born slaves. Earlier Supreme Court decisions, such as Dred Scott v. Sandford in 1857, had ruled that African Americans could never be U.S. citizens, but the 14th Amendment overturned that decision.
In 1898, the Supreme Court upheld the principle of birthright citizenship in the case of Wong Kim Ark v. United States, affirming that it applies to the children of immigrants.
