President Trump said that he plans to sign an executive order to end birthright citizenship to children born in the United States to non-citizens and undocumented immigrants. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said it’s an attempt to “fan the flames of anti-immigrant hatred” before next week’s midterm elections.
Axois released a clip of an interview with Trump set to air on HBO on Sunday where he talks about an executive order.
“It was always told to me you needed a Constitutional amendment,” Trump says. “Guess what You don’t.”
One of the hosts replies, “That’s in dispute.”
Trump answered, “You can definitely do it with an act of Congress, but now they’re saying I can do it with just an executive order. We’re the only country in the world where a person comes in, has a baby and the baby is essentially a citizen of the United States for 85 years with all of those benefits. It’s ridiculous. And it has to end.”
Trump is incorrect.
The U.S. isn’t the only country in the world that offers birthright citizenship there are more than 20 other countries, including Canada:
Antigua and Barbuda; Canada; Argentina; Barbados; Belize; Bolivia; Brazil; Canada; Chile; Cuba; Dominican Republic; Ecuador; El Salvador; Fiji; Grenada; Guatemala; Guyana; Honduras; Jamaica; Mexico; Nicaragua; Panama; Paraguay; Peru; St. Kitts and Nevis; St. Lucia; St. Vincent and the Grenadines; Trinidad and Tobago; United States; Uruguay; and Venezuela.
Trump said he’s talked with counsel about issuing the executive order.
“It’s in the process; it will happen,” he said.
The 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.”
In order to change an amendment in the Constitution, it would require the support of two-thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives and must be approved by three-fourths of state legislatures at a constitutional convention.
Trump’s executive order takes direct aim at the Constitution. It would be one of the most sweeping moves of his administration and would likely be opposed in Congress. He would face legal challenge, prompting the nation’s courts to weigh in.
“This is a blatantly unconstitutional attempt to fan the flames of anti-immigrant hatred in the days ahead of the midterms,” the ACLU said, in a statement, on Twitter.
“The 14th Amendment’s citizenship guarantee is clear. You can’t erase the Constitution with an executive order, @realDonaldTrump.”
This is a blatantly unconstitutional attempt to fan the flames of anti-immigrant hatred in the days ahead of the midterms.
The 14th Amendment’s citizenship guarantee is clear. You can’t erase the Constitution with an executive order, @realDonaldTrump. https://t.co/8vGkjOlPsE
ACLU (@ACLU) October 30, 2018
Trump has referred to thousands migrants traveling to the U.S. to flee violence in Central America as an “invasion.” And his attempt to challenge the 14th Amendment falls in line with usual pandering to his base.
As a presidential candidate, he called for an end to birthright citizenship, calling it in one of his first policy papers the “biggest magnet for illegal immigration.”
View a clip of the Axios interview:
Trump immigration executive order: President to terminate birthright citizenship
youtu.be
