Trump plans to end birthright US citizenship
Washington, Oct. 30: President Donald Trump said he will seek to end the right of citizenship to children born in the United States to non- citizens and illegal immigrants in his latest bid to dramatically reshape immigration policies as he seeks to shore up Republicans ahead of next week’s congressional elections.
Mr Trump would target the citizenship right through an executive order, he told Axios in an interview published on Tuesday, a move that would prompt a legal fight.
The right of US citizenship is granted to US- born children under the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, which cannot be changed by the President.
It was unclear what specific action his order would pursue, and Mr Trump gave no details. Representatives for the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. “This is blatantly unconstitutional,” Omar Jadwat, head of the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project told Reuters. “The President obviously cannot overturn the Constitution by executive order. The notion that he would even try is absurd.”
Changing an amendment in the Constitution would require the support of two- thirds of the US House of Representatives and the
Senate and the backing of three- fourths of United States state legislatures at a constitutional convention.
But Mr Trump said he has talked to his legal counsel and was advised he could enact the change on his own. Asked about the dispute over such presidential powers, Mr Trump said he stood by his comments.
“It’s in the process. It’ll happen,” he told Axios in the interview, which will air in full on the HBO pay cable channel on Sunday.