Ummm…
Trump eyeing executive order to end birthright citizenship, a move most legal experts say runs afoul of the Constitution
On the one hand, it certainly makes sense to get rid of the idea that if you are here in the US illegally you can have a baby, the baby is automatically a US citizen, and now you cannot be deported. On the other hand, that’s pretty much the way the Constitution is written. Birthright citizenship in the US is based on the 14th Amendment, which says:
Section 1. 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. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
The first bit of that, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States,” would include babies born to illegal aliens. Where it gets squirrely is the second bit: ” and subject to the jurisdiction thereof.” Some argue that this excludes illegals. But does it? I’m pretty sure that is an illegal alien breaks *any* law in the state of, say, Nebraska, they are subject to the jurisdiction of Nebraska. I think maybe the only people who might not be would be foreign diplomats, which is probably the point of the clause, as you don’t want ambassadors children being citizens of your own country.
If the Amendment is what I think it is, an executive Order won’t change it. And it *shouldn’t* change it, because then the next President, someone with different politics than Trump, could sign an Executive Order that re-writes the way the government understands any of the other Amendments. Pretty soon you’ll wake up with a religious test and British troops quartered in your apartment.
Birthright citizenship for illegals clearly needs to go away. But the way to do that is with a Constitutional amendment, not an Executive Order. If nothing else the Supreme Court will simply smack it down. In the mean time, the issue can be dealt with in a legal and fully Constitutional fashion: rapid and efficient deportations of illegal aliens.
Wikipedia has an interesting list of what nation does what when it comes to birthright citizenship (i.e. “Jus soli” in legal parlance). There is “unrestricted Jus soli,” which the US is *not* alone in (we are in a long list of mostly Latin American and third-world nations such as Pakistan and Venezuela); there is “restricted Jus soli” (which includes all of the EU nations, and puts requirements such as one of the parents needs to be a citizen, or the parents need to be in the national legally); and there is “no Jus soli for you,” which is everybody else.