Trump administration is considering to scrap the right to citizenship for any child born in the United States.
US President Donald Trump said he is "seriously looking" at ending the right of citizenship for America-born children of non-citizens. "We are looking at birthright citizenship very seriously. It's frankly ridiculous." Birthright citizenship grants automatic citizenship to those born in the US.
"Birthright citizenship where you have a baby on our land, you walk over the border, have a baby, congratulations, the baby is now a US citizen. We're looking at it very, very seriously," Trump said.
Trump's utterance on birthright citizenship came after the Trump administration unveiled a new law that would allow immigrant families with children to remain in detention for longer period. The new rule changes the Flores Settlement Agreement, which restricts detention of unaccompanied children and migrant families up to 20 days. "To protect these children from abuse, and stop this illegal flow, we must close these loopholes. This is an urgent humanitarian necessity," Trump said in a statement.
On his 2016 presidential campaign trail, Republican Trump had said he would end “birthright citizenship” through an executive order. But Constitutional experts say that this move would violate the US Constitution.
The 14th Amendment of the US Constitution—ratified on July 9, 1868—guarantees birthright citizenship and 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."
The Amendment, passed after the Civil War, ensured full citizenship rights to black Americans.
It forbids states from denying any person "life, liberty or property, without due process of law" or to "deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” By directly mentioning the role of the states, the 14th Amendment greatly expanded the protection of civil rights to all Americans and is cited in more litigation than any other amendment.
