Former President Donald Trump unveiled a new policy pledge on Tuesday morning, saying he would immediately end birthright citizenship for illegal immigrants by signing an executive order if he wins the 2024 presidential election.
‘As part of my plan to secure the border, on day one of my new term in office I will sign an executive order making clear to federal agencies that under the correct interpretation of the law going forward the future children of illegal aliens will not receive automatic U.S. citizenship,’ he said in his latest policy video.
The idea was floated repeatedly during Trump’s time in office.
But legal experts said it would likely fall foul of the Constitution’s 14th Amendment, which states that citizenship is granted to ‘all persons born or naturalized in the United States.’
Now, the frontrunner for the Republican nomination is returning to the idea, as he attacks the Biden administration for being weak on protecting U.S. borders.
Donald Trump unveiled a new policy pledge on Tuesday morning, saying he would immediately end birthright citizenship for illegal aliens with an executive order
Trump said the prospect of citizenship for the children of illegal aliens and other benefits was acting as a ‘magnet’
‘Even though these millions of illegal border crossers have entered the country unlawfully, all of their future children will become automatic US citizens,’ he said.
‘Can you imagine?
‘They’ll be eligible for welfare, taxpayer funded health care, the right to vote, chain migration and countless other government benefits, many of which will also profit the illegal alien parents.
‘This policy is a reward for breaking the laws of the United States and is obviously a magnet helping draw the flood of illegals across our borders.’
He said the ‘illegal foreign invasion’ was caused by President Joe Biden.
And he promised that his executive order would ban ‘birth tourism,’ where a pregnant mother gives birth within the U.S. after entering legally with a visa, before leaving.
His plan would require at least one parent be either a U.S. citizen or a legal resident.
Border security is emerging as a key campaign issue for the 2024 election. Migrants are pictured here resting at the Nueva Vision Agape Shelter, in Tijuana, Mexico
Migrants being housed in New York board a bus outside their hotel earlier this month
‘My policy will choke off a major incentive for continued illegal immigration, deter more migrants from coming, and encourage many of the aliens Joe Biden has unlawfully let into our country to go back to their home countries,’ he said.
‘They must go back. Nobody could afford this. Nobody could do this — and even morally it’s so wrong.’
The U.S. is not alone in offering birthright citizenship. But several countries, including Ireland, Australia, India and the United Kingdom have ended or restricted the right in recent decades.
Legal experts almost universally say the U.S. Constitution, and a string of court decisions, mean that Trump could not end the right with the stroke of a pen.
However, a small number of conservative scholars says the full text of the 14th Amendment – ‘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’ – offers a different interpretation.
Trump is the frontrunner for the Republican 2024 nomination. He heads to Iowa on Wednesday for two days of events in the crucial early primary state
Only 31 percent of voters say they approve of the president’s handling of immigration
Illegal aliens cannot vote or serve on juries, and so are not ‘subject to the jurisdiction’ of the U.S.
Trump seemed to hint at this view of the Constitution in his video message.
‘As has been laid out by many scholars, this policy is based on a historical myth and a willful misinterpretation of the law by the open borders advocates,’ he said.
Trump heads to Iowa on Tuesday for a string of events, which is rounded off on Thursday evening with a Fox News townhall hosted by Sean Hannity.
‘These events will be different to what people are used to,’ said campaign spokesman Stephen Cheung.
‘These are not big rallies. These are smaller events, with him shaking hands and doing retail politics.’