by ReutersDonald Trump said Tuesday that if re-elected president in 2024 he would seek to end automatic citizenship for children born in the United States to immigrants in the country illegally, a plan that contradicts that How a 19th century amendment to the US Constitution has been around for so long. Explained.
Trump, the frontrunner in a growing field of candidates vying for the Republican presidential nomination, said in a campaign video posted on Twitter that he would issue an executive order granting federal agencies what is known as birthright citizenship. Any such action by Trump would surely be challenged legally.
Birthright citizenship stems from the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which was ratified in 1868, three years after the end of the American Civil War, which outlawed the practice of enslavement of black people in the southern states and the Supreme Court’s decision that was overturned, which housed slaves and free Africans. Americans were not entitled to US citizenship.
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The amendment granted citizenship to all persons “born or naturalized in the United States”, including formerly enslaved people, and has been interpreted to apply whether the parents were legally in the country or not.
His campaign said in a press release that the proposed executive order, planned for the first day of Trump’s second term in office, would require that at least one parent be a US citizen or legal permanent resident for their children. be a resident
While president in 2018, Trump said he planned to issue an executive order limiting birthright citizenship, but never followed through. Many legal scholars at the time suspected that Trump might use executive authority to withdraw the authority.
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Trump also criticized President Joe Biden on Tuesday, the Democrat who defeated him in 2020 and is seeking re-election in 2024, for the record number of immigrants crossing the border illegally in recent years. Told the right of citizenship for children born on American soil. “Magnet”. Trump said that many countries restrict birthright citizenship to non-citizens.
Trump has sought to appeal to Republican voters on his party’s right wing who support a crackdown on immigration. As president, Trump pursued tough policies toward immigration and took steps toward building a wall along the US-Mexico border, which he promised as a candidate in 2016.