Former U.S. President Donald Trump in his quest for re-election has made a new promise.
If reelected, he pledged to eliminate birthright citizenship for children of immigrants without papers on his first day in office.
This includes Nigerians as well as other nationalities.
“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 it clear to federal agencies that, under the correct interpretation of the law going forward, future children of immigrants without papers will not receive automatic U.S. citizenship,” he stated in his most recent policy video.
The announcement reportedly occurred on the 125th anniversary of the Supreme Court case that established the constitutional right to birthright citizenship.
He first proposed the idea in 2018 while serving as president.
“I was always told that a constitutional amendment was necessary. What was that? You do not,” Trump stated. “You can absolutely do it with a congressional act. Now, however, they say I can simply issue an executive order.”
The majority of legal experts agree, according to The Hill, that Trump lacks the authority to do so because the 14th Amendment grants citizenship to those “born or naturalised in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof.”
The majority of nations in the Americas and a number of nations in Western Europe provide full citizenship at birth.
Trump stated that the prospect of citizenship and other benefits for the children of immigrants without papers acted as a ‘magnet’
“Even though these millions of illegal border crossers entered the country illegally, their children will automatically become citizens,” he said.
“They will be eligible for welfare, taxpayer-funded health care, the right to vote, chain migration, and innumerable other government benefits, many of which will also benefit their illegal parents.
This policy is a reward for violating U.S. laws and is obviously a magnet that helps draw immigrants without papers across our borders.
He attributed the ‘illegal foreign invasion’ to President Joe Biden.
And he promised that his executive order would prohibit ‘birth tourism,’ in which a pregnant woman gives birth in the United States after entering legally with a visa and then leaving.
His proposal would require at least one parent to be a citizen or legal resident of the United States.
