The Trump administration has graduated from legislating the rights of immigrants to live and work in the United States to legislating the citizenship of their children.
Even those most tough on immigration legislation have long recognized that while legal and illegal immigration can take a hit under Trump’s presidency — the number of visas granted and refugees approved can decline — automatic birthright citizenship isn’t on the chopping block. It’s constitutionally guaranteed under the 14th Amendment, and any president who would challenge that would be straying into uncharted territory.
President Donald Trump, however, said in an Axios interview, released Tuesday, that he is preparing an executive order nullifying birthright citizenship in the United States. Babies born to undocumented immigrants would not automatically be granted citizenship.
Trump said that the United States is the “only country in the world where a person comes in and has a baby,” and that baby is unfairly entitled to the benefits of being a U.S. citizen for the rest of their life.
At least 30 other countries — many in the Western hemisphere — grant automatic birthright citizenship. For the United States to even consider becoming one that neglects to do so reflects Trump’s increasing failure to meet basic standards expected of the “leader of the free world,” as his position was once known.
It’s clear now that everything Trump has said to justify his anti-immigrant platform — that immigrants are “rapists” and “criminals,” that they’re invaders to our country — has all been the talk of a man who doesn’t really care whether or not immigrants are “bad” or “good.” Babies aren’t bringing drugs into the country and stealing jobs from American citizens. Babies are a product of their environment, and a baby born to an immigrant who grows up alongside the son or daughter of a U.S. citizen is no more or less deserving of the right to exist in this country.
There should be no argument about whether or not the 14th Amendment pertains only to children born to legal residents. The amendment says exactly what it says: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States … are citizens of the United States.” It’s a dangerous precedent to set that the language of the Constitution can be interpreted to fit the president’s own beliefs. If the 14th Amendment is so malleable, who’s to say the language in the rest of the Constitution isn’t up for interpretation as well?
This executive order, though it would be the most drastic move yet in Trump’s anti-immigration agenda, is in contrast with the very vision that got Trump elected — the idea that we can make America great again, the idea that the American dream is still a possibility for those who work hard. Not only does it strip that dream away from anyone born in the United States to circumstances that are out of their control, it destroys the hope of any parent hoping to provide a better life to their child.
Trump’s announcement comes as a caravan of less than 3,500 Central America migrants nears the southern border, the majority Hondurans hoping to find opportunity in the United States.
For these people, joining the caravan is a last resort after circumstances in their home states have made life unliveable. Even if they were invited with open arms into the country, even if the Trump administration wasn’t sending 5,200 active-duty troops to greet them at the southern border and drive them back to the violence and poverty from which they are fleeing, America would be no land of opportunity for anyone whose child would not be considered a citizen.
Given how unlikely it is for Trump to be able to change the Constitution simply by signing an executive order, this may be nothing more than a political stunt — a ploy to bring hate and division to a fever pitch a week before the election.
But we should also know by now that while Trump may say brash things out of desire for publicity, the shocking and appalling proposals he makes are changes he and his administration genuinely desire to see. Trump’s fear-mongering does result in real policy. Regardless of whether this is a ploy or a bluff, we need to treat it as the serious matter it is. There is no ground for this proposal that isn’t based in fear-mongering, and it’s irresponsible that anyone is willing to use the lives of children as political tools.
It’s been said, but it must be reiterated, that the things Trump says carry weight behind them. He may understand that this violent rhetoric helped him get to the presidency and now helps him retain support, but he doesn’t understand how this fear-mongering, how his little comments, incite violence — against journalists, against immigrants — and in the worst cases, death of innocent people. He’s carelessly juggling a flame of hate that will only continue to spread.
