President-elect Donald Trump will begin his second term in office with an effort to eliminate the constitutional right to citizenship, a member of his staff said Monday.
"The federal government will not recognize automatic birthright citizenship for children of illegal aliens born in the United States," a Trump official said at a briefing, Reuters reported. Trump's effort to unilaterally eliminate a constitutional right will come as part of a flurry of executive orders targeting immigrants, including those who seek to come to the U.S. legally, the new administration also seeking to suspend refugee resettlement for a minimum of four months.
Birthright citizenship is guaranteed under the 14th Amendment, which was ratified in 1868. It reads: "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."
Legal experts generally agree that Trump has no legal ability to eliminate a constitutional right. Michael LeRoy, a law professor at the University of Illinois, said such an action would itself be "blatantly unconstitutional."
"The U.S. Supreme Court took up this issue in 1898 in U.S. v. Wong Kim Ark, involving a young man born in the U.S. to Chinese immigrant parents who had no American citizenship and were subjects of the Chinese emperor," LeRoy noted. When Wong's citizenship was challenged on the basis that his parents were not legal immigrants, his lawyers fought back and took the case to the Supreme Court, where they prevailed.
"So, no, birthright citizenship isn't a loophole. It's a fundamental right to all people born in the U.S.," LeRoy said.
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