This move is “almost certain to draw legal challenges on constitutional grounds.”
Yeah, no shit, Sherlock.
The vast majority of constitutional scholars believe that ending birthright citizenship would be a violation of the 14th Amendment. You know what? He may be right, and those scholars may be wrong. It is not an action that will defy the explicit words of the 14th, but rather the common interpretation of the italicized phrase beneath. The Amendment 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 wherein they reside.”
But whether he is right or wrong on the principle of birthright citizenship, this is not a matter that should be decided by an executive order. It should either be a new amendment to the Constitution or a new law subject to interpretation by the courts in the usual manner. Needless to say, the problem with ruling by executive orders is that it is tantamount to having laws written in pencil. If a President can determine such an action, so fundamental to American law and values, with an executive order, then the next President can undo it with his own executive order, and so forth. That’s not the way the American rule of law should work. It is the function of the legislative branch to to create laws, and the judicial branch to interpret them.
Personally, I don’t think he will actually do this at all. I’m guessing that this is just a rhetorical strategy to get immigration to the top of the news cycle prior to the election (as opposed to right-wing violence). Trump and his advisers feel that immigration is the one issue which resonates most strongly with their base, and is most likely to get people to the polls. This is why he keeps haranguing and scaremongering about the migrant caravan.
But then again, Trump is like that stereotypical movie character who “might just be crazy enough to do it.”
By the way, in two related issues:
Shep Smith of Fox News said of the caravan, “There is no invasion. No one is coming to get you. There is nothing at all to worry about.” The pundits on his network are obviously pushing a different narrative.
Some parts of this debate are matters for interpretation, but there is one case where Trump is just completely wrong. He claims America is the “only country in the world with birthright” citizenship. That’s just him making things up, as usual. Because the Western Hemisphere is built on migration, every major country in the Americas offers it, and almost all of the smaller countries. (There are only three exceptions: Cuba, Costa Rica and Suriname.)
