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Is Birthright Citizenship a National Suicide Pact?
[Real Clear Wire] On the day of his second inauguration, President Donald Trump issued an executive order entitled "Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship."Sounds innocent enough, right? But this is the infamous order declaring that birthright citizenship does not extend to children of parents who are in the United States illegally or temporarily. "Not so fast," said attorneys for illegal aliens and their children. "Our clients snuck across the border fair and square and they want the prize promised them by the Constitution — U.S. citizenship for all children born after they crossed the border." But is that really what the Constitution says? Here are the words from the 14th Amendment: 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. As President Trump noted in his executive order, the words "subject to the jurisdiction thereof" have always been used to exclude certain classes of people from birthright citizenship. That included, for instance, children of diplomats, who enjoy immunity in their host country. For several decades, it also included Native Americans of certain tribes that had entered into treaties that provided at least partial sovereignty. Those exclusions are not in the Constitution, but they are in the law. So why can’t there be an exclusion for illegal immigrants? Trump’s executive order correctly recognizes that the higher purpose of the 14th Amendment was to guarantee citizenship for the children of former slaves, who had not only been subject to the jurisdiction of the American government, but even subject to sale. They had earned citizenship through hardship, pain, and suffering — not through an accident of birth. Obviously, the authors of the amendment recognized the high value of citizenship, and it seems unlikely they would just hand it out willy-nilly. Posted by: Besoeker 2025-06-03 |
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