One of the main campaign promises of elected President Donald Trump is to eliminate the right to citizenship for foreigners born in the United States. This desire is not new. In his first candidacy for the White House, Trump made the same promise. But after becoming president, he set the issue aside.
Perhaps because Trump and his allies know that fulfilling this promise is no easy task. The right is guaranteed by the 14th Amendment of the American Constitution. Altering the Constitution requires much more than a signature from the president.
However, after being elected with such authority in this last election, Trump not only returned to the topic but promised to resolve it with a simple executive action.
In an interview on NBC’s Meet The Press this weekend, Trump confirmed his desire and went further: the NBC journalist asked if prohibiting citizenship by birthright on the first day of his presidency was still his plan.
“Yes. Absolutely,” Trump said.
“Can you circumvent the 14th Amendment with an executive action?” the interviewer asked.
“Well, we’re going to have to change that. Maybe we’ll have to turn to the people. But we have to end this,” Trump said.
“We are the only country that has this, you know?” he added.
This is a lie. Many nations around the world protect ‘jus soli’, Latin words meaning “right of the soil,” and grant citizenship to those born within their borders. There are at least thirty countries that recognize citizenship by birthright.
But Trump continued his lie. “You know we are the only country that has this. Did you know that if someone steps, just one foot, one foot, you don’t need two, on our land, ‘Congratulations, you are now a citizen of the United States of America.’ Yes, we’re going to end this because it’s ridiculous.”
“By executive action?” the journalist asked again.
“Well, if we can, by executive action,” Trump said before stating that he intended to end citizenship by birthright during his first term, “but then we had to fix Covid first,” he justified.
Trump can certainly try to end citizenship by birthright with an executive action, but that would certainly not be constitutional. And thus, the action would be challenged in court.
“No president has the authority to eliminate or modify a constitutional amendment. Is it possible for the new president to issue an executive order to that effect? Yes, but such action would be unconstitutional,” said Michael LeRoy, Professor of Labor Relations and Employment and immigration law expert at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine.
“Litigation is a certainty,” said American Civil Liberties Union lawyer Omar Jadwat to NBC News. “It is directly in the 14th Amendment. It would essentially be an attempt to overturn one of the main constitutional protections that has been a fundamental part of our country.”
But, of course, just because it is unconstitutional doesn’t mean Trump won’t try to do it. But the likelihood of the promise becoming a reality is another story.
The United States is a country that protects its Constitution very strongly. So, modifying it involves a long process. To begin with, the change needs the support of 2/3 of both legislative houses. That is, even if Trump has the support of all Republicans, he will still need to win some Democratic votes to move forward.
The probability of it happening? Very, very remote.
Sources: NBC News and Rolling Stone