Trump To End Birthright Citizenship On January 20, 2025

President-elect Donald Trump has reaffirmed his intention to end birthright citizenship, a constitutional right that he has criticised over the years.

In an interview on NBC’s ‘Meet the Press’, Trump confirmed that he is “absolutely” planning to eliminate birthright citizenship on his first day in office. “We have to end it,” Trump told host Kristen Welker. In a 2023 video post, he had previously announced that he would sign an executive order to achieve this goal on his first day.

What is birthright citizenship, and is it in the U.S. Constitution?

Birthright citizenship automatically grants U.S. citizenship to anyone born on American soil, regardless of the parents’ immigration status. This right is protected by the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which 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.” The 14th Amendment was passed by Congress in 1866 and ratified in 1868, primarily to ensure citizenship for former slaves and their descendants, overturning the Dred Scott decision that had denied citizenship to African Americans.

Why does Trump want to end birthright citizenship?

Trump has been advocating for the end of birthright citizenship since his 2015 presidential campaign. He called it “the biggest magnet for illegal immigration” in a policy paper from that time. In the 2023 video, Trump argued that the policy encourages “birth tourism,” where expectant mothers travel to the U.S. to give birth, securing citizenship for their child and potentially enabling them to bring family members into the country through “chain migration.” Although Trump pledged to end birthright citizenship during his first term, he did not follow through, shifting his focus to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Trump criticized the policy, calling the guarantee of citizenship by birth “ridiculous.” He complained, “If somebody sets a foot — just a foot, one foot, you don’t need two — on our land, congratulations, you are now a citizen of the United States of America.” He argued that the U.S. is the only country with this practice, though many other countries also have birthright citizenship.

Critics of birthright citizenship argue that the 14th Amendment was never meant to apply to children of undocumented immigrants or to “birth tourism.” They contend that the amendment was intended to eliminate racial barriers to citizenship. Trump’s call to end birthright citizenship is part of his broader plan for sweeping immigration reform, which includes targeting both undocumented and legal immigrants with strict policies.

When asked if he could end birthright citizenship through executive action, Trump acknowledged that it might require a constitutional amendment. However, he expressed his determination to end it, stating, “We have to end it.” Trump suggested that while he would pursue executive action if possible, a constitutional amendment might be necessary to make the change.

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