Birthright Citizenship Here to Stay? Not if President Trump Has Anything To Say About It.

But when all is said and done, President Trump doesn’t have much to say about it. Well, Trump being Trump, he may have a lot to say about it, but there isn’t much he can do about it unless he can muster the votes to amend the Constitution, and he can’t. He can’t even come close to doing that.

The 14th Amendment to the Constitution clearly and unambiguously enshrines Birthright Citizenship, which bestows citizenship on anyone born or naturalized in this country. President Trump’s executive order ending Birthright Citizenship was foolish and immediately blocked in federal court. Presidential executive orders are powerful instruments, but the US Constitution is far more powerful.

Suppose President Trump wants to eliminate Birthright Citizenship. In that case, he will first have to eliminate Section 1 of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which 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.” That’s an unambiguous provision that says if one is born here and subject to our laws, they are an American citizen, period! No one should try to emasculate the clear and straightforward meaning of those words, especially the President of the United States, who has taken an oath to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution…all of it.

Given that Attorneys General from 22 states immediately sued to block President Trump’s move to end birthright citizenship, it is highly doubtful that President Trump can singlehandedly obliterate this critical provision of our Constitution.

Trump’s scheme to end birthright citizenship, which grandfathers those children who were born before February 19^th, would only snatch away citizenship in the future from those children born after that date if their parents were not citizens. Trump, with a proverbial snap of a finger, would end a law enshrined in the Constitution that assures that if a child is born on US soil, he or she is a citizen of the United States.

Trump’s executive order would eliminate citizenship to all children born in the United States to mothers who are not legally in the country unless their father was a US citizen or lawful permanent resident. For the record, I think the peculiarities of birthright citizenship leave considerable room for discussing the pros and cons of this unique feature of our Constitution. I believe, however, that the pros far outweigh the cons. Calling for the repeal of birthright citizenship serves no constructive purpose. It is divisive and merely pits Americans against Americans.

Demagogues have tossed out proposals to end birthright citizenship from time to time to roil the body politic because most people have faint perspectives of how or why the Constitution provides birthright citizenship. President Trump, who knows a good controversy when he sees one, has reintroduced this old and divisive controversy into our body politic. That we are even discussing in 2025 whether birthright citizenship, which was enshrined in the Constitution for a century and a half with the passage of the 14^th Amendment and further codified by the Supreme Court in 1898, is divisive and without any constructive purpose. That a President of the United States would argue that this constitutional protection for children born in the United States should be nullified is shameful and without justification, given the long history of birthright citizenship.

President Trump has introduced this controversy simply to create controversy. Repealing birthright citizenship would create an unwelcome caste of second-class persons for no constructive purpose whatsoever. The Migration Policy Institute and the University of Pennsylvania have found that ending birthright citizenship for American babies born in the United States to unauthorized or undocumented parents would simply create an unwelcome and unfortunate caste system in America. Repealing birthright citizenship for children born in America to unauthorized immigrants is discussed in some circles as a means to reduce illegal immigration. Were such legislation enacted, it would significantly increase the size of the unauthorized immigrant population in the United States from 11 million today to 16 million by 2050.

Much of the debate surrounding the 2009 Birthright Citizenship Act has focused on the intent of the 14th Amendment’s citizenship clause. Simply stated, are U.S.-born children of parents who are undocumented “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States. Repealing the citizenship clause of the 14^th Amendment would create, in perpetuity, a class of people who would be excluded from American citizenship. If this were to become law, there would be, within 25 years, 4.7 million unauthorized individuals who would have been born in the United States. One million of these individuals would have two U.S.-born parents who had been excluded from citizenship.

So, what would be the ramifications of repealing birthright citizenship? According to the Migration Policy Institute, the unauthorized share of the under-18-age population will double from its current 2 percent by 2050. As might be expected, Mexicans and Central Americans would be harmed the most. They account for nearly three-quarters of all unauthorized immigrants. Given the substantial effort made by both Republicans and Democrats to cultivate these groups, both political parties should think long and hard about short-sighted initiatives to hamper their integration.

Numerous studies have demonstrated the remarkably swift benefits to the US economy from including immigrants in American society. Birthright citizenship has made this remarkable integration possible.

Is there any justification that is in the national interest for ending birthright citizenship? We think not.

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Recent podcasts have featured my commentary on Liz Cheney’s book, “Oath and Honor,” as well as my commentaries regarding:

U.S. Representative Jim Jordan,

Brian Kemp and Those Republicans of Georgia,

The Trump Indictments,

The Fox Corp Settlement,

The CNN Trump Town Hall,

The Hunter Biden plea deal,

The New American Cult of Personality,

and my interviews with William Bratton, Retired Chief of Police in New York City, Los Angeles, and Boston;

Rikki Klieman, Attorney, Network News Analyst, and best-selling author;

John Thoresen, Executive Director, Barbara Sinatra Children’s Center;

Katherine Gehl, co-author of The Politics Industry and founder of the Institute for Political Innovation;

Jazz artist Ann Hampton Callaway;

Outlander author Diana Gabaldon;

AI Data Scientist Lawrence Kite;

Ryan Clancy, Chief Strategist of No Labels;

Former Senator Barbara Boxer;

Former Senator Joe Lieberman;

and former Maryland Governor Larry Hogan.

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