Global Courant 2023-06-01 03:42:08
Former President Trump’s call this week to end birthrights for the children of those in the country is an illegal echo of a promise he’s made several times before but failed to keep amid of a storm of controversy.
Trump, who is running for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, said he would sign an executive order “on day one” that will instruct federal agents that the “proper interpretation of the law” does not grant citizenship to the children of illegal immigrants. of their birthplace.
“Joe Biden has launched an illegal foreign invasion of our country, allowing a record number of illegal aliens to storm our borders,” Trump said in a video posted to Twitter. “Even though these millions of illegal border crossings entered the country illegally, all of their future children will automatically become US citizens. Can you imagine?
“They will be eligible for welfare benefits, taxpayer-funded health care, voting rights, chain migration, and countless other government benefits, many of which will also benefit the illegal alien parents. These policies are a reward for violating the laws of the United States. States and is clearly a magnet helping to draw a tidal wave of illegal immigrants across our borders.”
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Former President Trump speaks at the Adler Theater in Davenport, Iowa on March 13, 2023. (Scott Olson/Getty Image)
While birthright citizenship grants citizenship to children of legal immigrants, the debate over automatic citizenship has focused primarily on those who are illegally resident in the country. Those advocating for its abolition or restriction argue that it incentivizes foreigners to illegally enter the US and have a child who is then granted citizenship.
Trump first made the ambitious pledge during his 2016 campaign. His campaign website pledged to “end primogeniture.”
“By a 2:1 margin, voters say it’s the wrong policy, including (former Senate Majority Leader) Harry Reid who said ‘no sound country’ would give automatic citizenship to the children of illegal immigrants,” the website said. .
In 2018, Trump brought up the idea again in an interview with Axios.
“We are the only country in the world where a person comes in and has a baby, and the baby is essentially a citizen of the United States…with all those benefits,” Trump said. “It’s ridiculous. It’s ridiculous. And it has to end.”
In 2019, he said his government was taking the question “very seriously”.
“Birthright citizenship, where you have a baby on our land — you walk across the border, have a baby, congratulations, the baby is now a US citizen,” Trump said. “We’re taking it very, very seriously… It’s, quite frankly, ridiculous.”
The debate comes as the US is now in its third year of a migrant crisis with a record number of migrants arriving at its southern border. Immigration, and what to do with those who are in the country illegally, will likely be a top topic for the 2024 presidential campaign.
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The 14th Amendment states, “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 in which they reside.”
Some legal experts, Democrats, and some conservatives have rejected the idea that such a constitutional amendment could be passed through an executive order. Some have argued that a bill passed by Congress was more likely to pass a legal challenge. Such a move would almost certainly face an immediate lawsuit from a number of immigration activists and civil rights organizations.
Former House Speaker Paul Ryan said in 2018 that Trump “obviously” couldn’t make that change through an executive order.
“I’m in favor of following the plain text of the Constitution, and I think in this case the 14th Amendment is pretty clear, and that would entail a very, very lengthy constitutional process,” he said in an interview . to The New York Times.
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However, Trump advisers and some conservative legal scholars have previously argued that the idea of giving the children of illegal immigrants the birthright is based on a misreading of the amendment.
In an op-ed published in 2018, Heritage Foundation senior legal officer Hans A. von Spakovsky said critics of Trump’s plans “easily ignored or misinterpreted” the 14th Amendment’s requirement that illegal immigrant children be “subdued” to the jurisdiction of the United States.
“The United States Immigration Act (8 U.S.C. § 1401) simply repeats the language of the 14th Amendment, including the phrase ‘subject to the jurisdiction thereof.’ The federal government has misinterpreted that statute to provide passports and other benefits to anyone living in was born in the United States, regardless of whether their parents are here illegally and regardless of whether the applicant meets the ‘subject to jurisdiction’ requirement of the US,” he said.
As a result, the President of the United States has the authority to direct federal agencies to act in accordance with the original meaning of the 14th Amendment and to issue passports and other government documents and benefits only to those persons whose status as a US citizen meets this requirement.”
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Other conservatives have been dismissive of Trump’s call, pointing to previous promises to make such a move.
“Trump vows again to revoke birthright citizenship to combat border crisis… served during Trump administration,” tweeted.
Anders Hagstrom of Fox News contributed to this report.
Adam Shaw is a political reporter for Fox News Digital, primarily covering immigration and border security.
He can be reached at [email protected] or at Twitter.
