Trump to Issue Executive Order Ending Birthright Citizenship

Despite an arguably flawed interpretation of the 14th Amendment that the U.S. Supreme Court has previously found to guarantee U.S. citizenship to anyone who is born in the U.S., President Trump appears poised to issue an Executive Order that would deny U.S. citizenship to people who are merely born in the U.S. to visiting foreign nationals. If such an Executive Order does ultimately issue, the arising challenges would have to be resolved by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Critics of U.S. birthright citizenship claim that the Fourteenth Amendment does not compel the U.S. to be a jus solis nation. (Jus solis is latin for "right of soil". The alternative to jus solis is jus sanguinis, which means "right of blood". While anyone born in a jus solis nation is automatically a citizen of that nation, a person born in a jus sanguinis nation becomes a citizen of that respective nation through a relative, usually a parent, who has citizenship there).

The U.S. Supreme Court had previously found the U.S. to be a jus solis nation based upon language contained in the Fourtheenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. This language reads as follows: "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".

Staunch critics of birthright citizenship claim that the qualifying language, "subject to the jurisdiction thereof", should properly be read narrowly, referring only to persons born in the USA to at least one parent who is a U.S. citizen or Lawful Permanent Resident. Essentially, these critics are arguing that a person born in the U.S. is not subject to the jurisdiction of the U.S. if neither parent is a U.S. citizen or Lawful Permanent Resident. While that certainly appears true for people born to diplomats from foreign nations, it seems a stretch to argue that someone born in the U.S. is not subject to U.S. jurisdiction because neither parent is a U.S. citizen or Lawful Permanent Resident.

Proponents of birthright citizenship are ready to defend the U.S. Supreme Court's prior pronouncements on birthright citizenship, and keep the U.S. as a jus solis nation absent some superseding legislation that appears not to be on the horizon.

See article: Trump administration revives talk of action on birthright citizenship

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