President Trump, seeking to limit immigration to the U.S., is set to challenge a 150-year-old constitutional standard that anyone born in America is an American citizen. Mr. Trump told “Axios on HBO” that he plans to sign an executive order to “remove the right to citizenship for babies of non-citizens and unauthorized immigrants born on U.S.-soil.”
“How ridiculous, we’re the only country in the world where a person comes in, has a baby, and the baby is essentially a citizen of the United States for 85 years with all of those benefits,” the president said. “It’s ridiculous. It’s ridiculous. And it has to end.”
Mr. Trump told Axios he has talked with White House counsel about the executive order, and it is “in process… It’ll happen.”
The 14th Amendment, passed after the Civil War, specifically says that “all persons born or naturalized in the United States are citizens.” The Supreme Court has upheld this rule for legal permanent residents, but has never decided a citizenship case involving an illegal immigrant or a short-term visitor to the U.S.
Mr. Trump’s comments come ahead of next week’s mid-term election, in which immigration is a key issue for his GOP base. On Monday, the administration announced it was deploying over 5,200 troops to the southern border to block the caravan of migrants, which is expected arrive at the U.S. next month.
© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
