Donald Trump seriously considering abolishing Birthright citizenship – Will he be able to do it?

It is not a secret that President Donald Trump has always been against the Birthright citizenship. Despite the constitutional amendment in place, Trump seems to be adamant on abolishing the the provision which confers the automatic American citizenship to the children born in the US, even when the parents are not the citizens of the country.

However, it may be important to note that Trump made it one of the important points in his election campaign in 2016, he has remained silent all through the tenure which comes to end in 2020. It can perhaps be one of his ploys for seeking re-election next year, even if the executive order – if any – is issued, it is bound to go into the legal turmoil and will be at odds with the country’s Supreme Court.

“We’re looking at that very seriously, birthright citizenship,” is what Trump told reporters at a press conference outside the White House, but did not elaborate on how he wants to go about it. However, the constitutional experts are of the opinion that such a move would not be without the legal battles.

In fact, there is a Supreme Court precedent, where a ruling in 1898 ha conferred the American citizenship on a child born in the US to non citizens parents of Chinese. Any executive order by the Trump administration would be challenged in the Supreme Court citing this precedent.

Trump claimed that “We’re the only country in the world where a person comes in and has a baby, and the baby is essentially a citizen of the United States for 85 years with all of those benefits,” and termed it ridiculous. What is ridiculous for the president is the fact that there are over 30 countries that follow the birthright citizenship.

There has been a wide spread criticism of the president’s claims and statements. For one, Presidential candidate Kamala Harris asked the president to “‘seriously’ consider reading the Constitution.”###