Two experts explain the origins of birthright citizenship and what it would take to change it in the US.
President-elect Donald Trump wants to end birthright citizenship immediately for the children of migrants not in the country legally.
According to Trump's Agenda 47, he plans to "sign an executive order on Day One to end automatic citizenship for children of illegal aliens."
"Under the correct interpretation of the law, going forward, the future children of illegal aliens will not receive automatic U.S. citizenship," Trump said.
But is Trump's plan viable? Lawyers expect a legal battle that could end up in the Supreme Court.
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Northwestern University History Professor Susan J. Pearson says the 14th Amendment cannot be changed by executive order.
"It was amended to the constitution through the correct channels, and it can't be overturned, its provisions can't be stripped by either the president or Congress,” Pearson said.
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Changing the amendment would require a constitutional amendment rather than an executive order, many legal scholars argue.
Trump says on his campaign website that his plan is meant to address the high number of undocumented migrants crossing the southern border, which reached nearly 10 million during the Biden administration.
“My policy will choke off a major incentive for continued illegal immigration, deter more migrants from coming, and encourage many of the aliens Joe Biden has unlawfully let into our country to go back to their home countries,” Trump said.
The children will not be issued passports or Social Security numbers or be eligible for certain taxpayer-funded welfare benefits, the website says.
The Constitution’s 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 wherein they reside.”
“There’s a 1898 US Supreme Court case called United States V. Wong Kim Ark which establishes that even if your parents are not eligible for citizenship if you were born on US soil, you are still a citizen,” Pearson said.
She is referring to a case where a 21-year-old man born in San Francisco to Chinese citizens was denied re-entry to the country on the grounds that he was not a US citizen.
In a 6-to-2 decision, the Court ruled in favor of Wong Kim Ark because he was born in the United States.
Trump’s position is that U.S. citizenship “extends only to those both born in AND 'subject to the jurisdiction' of the United States,” according to the campaign website.
The National Constitution Center notes that "children born to alien enemies in hostile occupation and children of diplomatic representatives of a foreign state are recognized exceptions to the fundamental rule of citizenship by birth within the country."
