Media pointed to Trump's violation of the U.S. Constitution in the immigrant law
US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order that effectively strips children of illegal immigrants born in the country of the right to United States citizenship, but such a decision is unconstitutional. This was pointed out by The New York Times on January 21.
President Trump said his administration will no longer consider children born to illegal immigrants as U.S. citizens, the media outlet noted. This signals his intention to effectively ignore the constitutional guarantee of birthright citizenship, which would almost certainly trigger a lawsuit, the newspaper adds.
In his order, Trump said he would interpret the 14th Amendment to the constitution differently than he has done in the past, arguing that it has "never been interpreted to extend citizenship to anyone born within the United States."
The constitutional amendment in question, ratified in 1868, 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 in which they reside." This rule has so far only applied to the children of accredited foreign diplomats, and the citizenship or immigration status of the parents did not affect this right.
The newspaper notes that Trump cannot repeal birthright citizenship on his own. Since the president does not have the power to amend the constitution on his own, any executive order limiting or eliminating birthright citizenship would be challenged in court as a violation of the 14th Amendment.
Earlier on Jan. 20, immediately after his inauguration, Trump signed more than 200 new executive orders. Among them, declaring a state of emergency on the border with Mexico and placing drug cartels on the list of terrorist organizations.
El Financiero newspaper noted at the time that protesters burned a Trump doll in front of the U.S. Embassy in Mexico. The gesture, according to them, represents dissatisfaction with the "offensive and inhumane, anti-migration and protectionist" policies of the U.S. leader.
Back on January 17, Politico reported that the U.S. president's team intends to declare a state of emergency to combat illegal migration. It was noted that officials are also developing an executive order to abolish the right to American citizenship by birth. The Trump administration plans to launch raids against migrants the day after the inauguration, The Wall Street Journal added.
