On his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order to end the long-time practice of extending citizenship universally to everyone born within the United States. That EO, titled "Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship," quotes the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution:
"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."
Trump contends that children born to temporary foreign visitors or illegal aliens are not subject to the "jurisdiction" of the U.S.
Art Arthur, a resident fellow in law and policy at the Center for Immigration Studies, tells AFN that for several decades it has been assumed under the 14th Amendment that every child born on American soil is a U.S. citizen. "But there's no real strong legal precedent that supports that proposition," he argues.
"What the Trump administration is attempting to do is to clarify this by stating that it will not issue any form of documents or representation to any individual who was born in the United States to parents who are not legal residents of this country. They're not going to be able to gain citizenship from that," he explains.
The immigration attorney says that's naturally going to lead to a legal challenge.
"And in the course of that legal challenge, ultimately the Supreme Court will clarify once and for all whether everybody born here or some [subgroup] of people who were born in the United States automatically obtains U.S. citizenship at birth."
In fact, the Associated Press reported today that a legal challenge has already been filed, resulting in the executive order being blocked temporarily. U.S. District Judge John Coughenour called it "blatantly unconstitutional" during the first hearing in a multi-state effort challenging the order. Coughenour said he's been on the bench for more than four decades, and he couldn't remember seeing another case where the action challenged was so clearly unconstitutional.
