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Birthright Citizenship In the USA – Will Trump Impose More Restrictions With An Executive Order?

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The President of the United States, Donald Trump is considering issuing an executive order that targets birthright citizenship in the USA. President Trump is serving his final weeks in office.

Donald Trump has plans to issue this order at the earliest as the President-elect Joe Biden will be taking over as the President of the USA in January 2021.

Birthright Citizenship In the USA

The Policy of Birthright Citizenship grants citizenship to anyone born in the USA. It doesn’t matter if their parents are a citizen of the USA or not. All through his first term, President Donald Trump has been speaking about his intentions to put an end to birthright citizenship.

 Drafts of a prospective executive order have been doing rounds for some time. Discussions on finalizing this order before the end of President Trump’s term and implementing it seems to be the top priority of the Trump administration now.

What Is Birthright Citizenship In The USA?

The Birthright Citizenship in the USA is guaranteed in the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution and under which it states that:

“all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and the State wherein they reside.”

  • This policy grants citizenship by birth to anyone born in the USA
  • Citizenship is granted regardless of the nationality of her/his parents
  • Birthright citizenship is provided by at least 30 countries
  • Most of these nations lie in the Western Hemisphere

Check out 37% of Americans Favour Changing the Constitution to End ‘Birthright Citizenship’

Birthright Citizenship In The USA – Counter Arguments

There have been several counter-arguments over the citizenship by birthright stating the misinterpretation of the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution.

  • They argue that the Clause for Citizenship under the 14th Amendment has been misinterpreted
  • This amendment intended to ensure that slaves were properly treated and recognized as a citizen of the USA
  • According to them, this law is being misused when children of illegal immigrants are granted citizenship by birth automatically
  • Besides, several people travel to this nation just to give birth there
  • This will grant their children birthright citizenship in the USA

How Trump Has Been Working To Issue The Executive Order Against Birthright Citizenship?

The President has been speaking on the executive order to put an end to birthright citizenship since the beginning of his presidential term.

  • It was first proposed in 2016 during his presidential campaign
  • It was on his agenda to take the necessary steps to stop this practice
  • In 2018 the idea was revived and he said he would soon sign an executive order to bring about a change to birthright citizenship
  • However, no steps were taken immediately
  • In 2019 the Trump administration stated once again that measures to end birthright citizenship were being seriously considered
  • The decision was again not implemented
  • The issue has been taken up by the Trump administration once again recently

Decisions Implemented By The Trump Administration?

The campaign of Donald Trump for his first term as President focused mainly on how he planned to restrict immigration both illegal and legal. He has imposed several policies to do so once he started his term in the presidential office.

Some of the policies imposed by the Trump administration include the following.

  • Policies that limit asylum seekers
  • Orders that separate migrant children from their families
  • Policies that have tremendously cut short the number of refugees
  • ‘Birth Tourism ‘Order in January 2020
  • This order restricts visa applications for pregnant women
  • This was done to restrict those women who were traveling to the USA to give birth

Besides the above-mentioned ones, some of the additional policies and reforms introduced by the Trump administration are:

  • Regulatory steps and reforms on China
  • Reforms added to the H-1B work visa
  • This adds more rules and regulations for international employees to come and work in the USA
  • The aim is to provide more job opportunity to the Americans
  • Two major steps implemented recently to cut short the price of prescription drugs

Issuing Executive Order On Citizenship By Birth – What Can Be Expected?

If the Executive Order on restricting Birthright Citizenship is issued by the Trump administration they are well aware that the decision will be challenged immediately in court.

However, government officials have set their hopes on getting a ruling on whether citizenship by birthright is protected under the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution.

The courts have never put forth a definitive rule in this regard even though several legal experts and lawmakers have put forth their argument that birthright citizenship is protected.

To resolve this matter permanently the Supreme Court will have to put forth their decision regarding the 14th Amendment.

Even in the event where this order happens to be removed by the Biden-led government or fails on a legal basis it is likely to have an undesirable and discouraging influence on those who seek to go to the USA.

President Trump is more than likely to implement an executive order against birthright citizenship in the USA before leaving his office. Whether this decision will stand or be revoked is something that we’ll have to wait and watch in the coming days and months.

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