Former President Donald Trump is vowing to end birthright citizenship for illegal immigrants if he is reelected to a second term, echoing statements he made in 2018 about ending the longstanding policy.
“As part of my plan to secure the border on Day One of my new term in office, I will sign an executive order making clear to federal agencies that under the correct interpretation of the law, going forward the future children of illegal aliens will not receive automatic U.S. citizenship,” Trump said in a policy video released on social media on Tuesday.
The former president, who is leading by double digits over the nearest GOP challenger, said that his “policy will choke off a major incentive for continued illegal immigration, deter more migrants from coming, and encourage many of the aliens Joe Biden has unlawfully let into our country to go back to their home countries.” That policy, he argued, would “put America first” by blocking birthright citizenship, a version of was first enabled in 1868 under the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution.
Trump also targeted President Biden’s immigration policies, arguing that the current administration has unlawfully failed to secure the U.S.-Mexico border. Since taking office, Biden and White House officials have claimed that it was the Trump administration that imposed bad policies and has called on Congress to act.
“My order will also end the unfair practice known as birth tourism, where hundreds of thousands of people from all over the planet squat in hotels for their last few weeks of pregnancy to illegitimately and illegally obtain U.S. citizenship for the child,” Trump remarked. “Often to later exploit chain migration to jump the line and get green cards for themselves and their family members.”
Since Biden took over in early 2021, Republicans have criticized Biden for what they say is a dereliction of duty in securing the border. Meanwhile, the Federation for American Immigration Reform said that some 2.7 million illegal aliens were encountered during the 2022 fiscal year, while a total of 5.5 million have illegally entered since Biden took office.
Previous Statements
When he was president, Trump signaled a willingness to end birthright citizenship and first made such a proposal in 2018. At the time, Trump told the Axios news website that he would consider issuing an executive order, but that plan was quickly rejected by then-House Speaker Paul Ryan, who is now an executive with Fox News.
“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,” Trump said about five years ago. “It’s ridiculous. It’s ridiculous. And it has to end.” However, Ryan told media outlets soon after his interview was published that a president “cannot end birthright citizenship with an executive order.”
Months later, in August 2019, Trump again suggested issuing the executive order when he told reporters that “we’re looking at that very seriously, birthright citizenship.” Former Vice President Mike Pence and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) have also said they back ending the longstanding policy, with Graham saying in 2018 that he would introduce a bill to do so.
“This policy is a magnet for illegal immigration, out of the mainstream of the developed world, and needs to come to an end,” Graham previously remarked. “I plan to introduce legislation along the same lines as the proposed executive order from President Trump.”
If Trump, who also signaled ending the legal framework during his 2016 campaign, did issue an executive order on birthright citizenship, it could face major legal hurdles. The Fourteenth Amendment says that “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.”
A Supreme Court ruling issued in 1898, United States v. Wong Kim Ark, said that a man born to Chinese nationals could remain in the United States to keep his citizenship. That case was filed after Wong traveled to China for a visit when he was 22 and was then denied reentry into the United States.
In a 6–2 vote, the high court said that the Fourteenth Amendment applied to most people who were born in the United States, except for children of enemies of the country or of foreign diplomats. It also ruled that children born on Native American reservations may be exempt.
The Supreme Court in 1982 issued a ruling in Plyler v. Doe, Texas, that indicated that children born in the United States to illegal immigrant parents should be granted citizenship as well. According to a footnote issued in the order, “No plausible distinction with respect to 14th Amendment ‘jurisdiction’ can be drawn between resident aliens whose entry into the United States was lawful, and resident aliens whose entry was unlawful.”
