Donald Trump: will the birthright come to an end?

The president of the United States would present a decree in which he would annul amendment 14 of the Constitution

Again, Donald Trump is giving something to talk about. The US president said he would evaluate the option of removing citizenship for those children of immigrants born in the United States. The policy is known as "automatic citizenship."

Leer en español: Donald Trump: ¿Adiós al derecho de nacimiento?

The proposal, which was exposed in the middle of an interview for the Axis on HBO program, has been strongly supported by the conservative sector of that country. Trump said, "how ridiculous is that we are the only country in the world, where a person comes with a baby and the baby is essentially a citizen of the United States for 85 years, with all those benefits. It's ridiculous and it has to end", he said.

Trump gave these statements close to the legislative elections, which are scheduled for next November 6. As El Clarín affirms this type of affirmations against the migrants were essential for Trump to win the presidency, it could be of help to win votes.

It is expected that, based on some polls conducted, Republicans have the possibility of losing control of the House of Representatives. Although they would remain with the Senate.

However, the president of the United States did not give an exact date on which the proposal would take effect. For Trump to pass this decree is easy since, according to him, it is only necessary the approval of a judicial order. However, the way to modify the law is more complicated.

To achieve his statements, amendment 14 would have to be modified, which is valid since 1868. It "establishes that all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to its jurisdiction, are citizens of the United States and the State in which they reside".

Despite this, Trump believes that the amendment can be interpreted in various ways and that, "the so-called citizenship by birth, which costs billions of dollars to our country and is very unfair to our citizens, will end in a way or the other. It is not covered by the 14th Amendment because of the words 'subject to the jurisdiction'. Many legal scholars agree".

However, as Univisión affirms, "the process to modify or eliminate a constitutional amendment does not only depend on the White House, it is a complicated and long journey that needs the approval of a qualified majority in both houses of Congress. In addition to the approval of three quarters of the 50 states of the country".

On the other hand, it is important to note that an amendment is part of the constitution and that makes it permanent and unchangeable. On the contrary, a court order cannot and can be overthrown at any time by another president, as stated by the same media. Also, an amendment can only be null when another constitutional amendment is proposed.

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Even so, Trump can present the decree to Congress, and there is a possibility that the order will not be approved in the first instance. However, for the professor of Political Science of the University of Massachusetts, Luis Jiménez, in dialogue with the Clarín "in other times I would say that the Supreme Court would never accept, since the fourteenth amendment will be weakened, but with the newly appointed conservative judge Brett Kavannaugh at the Court, gives me the impression that there is at least a 50% chance that they will accept Trump's logic".

Different reactions

Although the process would last more than a year to be approved, the reactions to the decree proposed by Trump, generated different positions.

For example, the Republican Senator from South Carolina, Lindsey Graham, celebrated on his Twitter account stating that, "finally, a president willing to assume this absurd policy of citizenship by birthright."

On the other hand, the leader of the House of Representatives, Paul Ryan, said in statements to the radio WVLK Kentucky and collected by CNN, that Trump "cannot end the right of citizenship by birth with a presidential decree (…) one obviously cannot do that. "

Immediately, President Donald Trump attacked the politician, and expressed that, "Paul Ryan should concentrate on maintaining the majority instead of giving his opinions on citizenship by birth, something he knows nothing about. Our new Republican majority will work on this, closing the immigration loopholes and securing our border! "

If this decree is approved, and as The New York Times affirms, "if citizenship was denied to any minor who had at least one parent without legal immigration status, the proportion of undocumented persons would double by 2050 to 24 millions".

LatinAmerican Post | Laura Viviana Guevara Muñoz
Translated from “Donald Trump: ¿Adiós al derecho de nacimiento?”

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