Former President Donald Trump has pledged to sign an executive order ending birthright citizenship if he returns to the White House.
Trump announced his social media platform, Truth Social, stating it was time to stop "a reward for breaking the laws of the United States." He argued that the U.S. is one of the few countries that grant automatic citizenship to children born on its soil, even if neither parent is a citizen or lawfully in the country.
Trump's proposed executive order would instruct federal officers not to recognize the citizenship of someone born to illegal immigrant parents. He claimed that US-born children of illegal immigrants end up claiming social welfare benefits such as healthcare, some of which benefit the parents who brought them to the U.S. in the first place.
The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states that all "persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and the State wherein they reside." The argument over birthright citizenship centers on the phrase "subject to the jurisdiction."
While most scholars believe that the 14th Amendment guarantees citizenship to those born in the U.S., some dissenting voices argue that illegal immigrants are not technically under the jurisdiction of the U.S. and should not be allowed to claim that benefit.
Trump has long been a vocal critic of birthright citizenship and had previously stated that he was preparing to issue an executive order during his term in office. However, he never followed through on the idea, and it is unclear what hurdles existed or how they have been overcome. Trump called the legal arguments for birthright citizenship "a myth and a willful misinterpretation of the law by open borders advocates."
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