Some Republican presidential candidates said they want to do away with birthright citizenship for the children of immigrants living in the U.S. unlawfully.
Right now, anyone born in the United States automatically becomes a U.S. citizen.
The issue has become part of the larger bedrock of conservative priorities: ending illegal immigration.
Gladys Tanchez, incoming 35th Ward GOP Committeeperson, believes the renewed push for ending birthright citizenship stems from the surge of migrants and lack of solutions.
“There’s just too many people coming in unvetted,” Tanchez said. “Coming here just to have a baby takes away from citizens. … We can’t sustain our own homeless population.”
The debate over birthright citizenship isn’t anything new. In 2018, former President Donald Trump said he planned to issue an executive order that would end the automatic granting of citizenship to those born in the U.S. to noncitizens, but he wasn’t able to do so.
Steven Ramirez, law professor at Loyola University Chicago, said that attempt was part of the “lawlessness” of Trump.
“He does not have the power to change the Constitution,” Ramirez said. “He has promised to be a dictator on Day 1. I think we are all aware of that. He has said that maybe on Day 1 or Day 2 he was going to do away with birthright citizenship. … I would be shocked if the Supreme Court said otherwise because we’re talking about basic constitutional law. You cannot change the Constitution by an executive order.”
As it is now, Section One of the 14th Amendment, which guarantees birthright citizenship to people born in the United States, says “all persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens.”
“You cannot reward people coming into this country illegally,” Tanchez said. “It just encourages more lawlessness.”
Ramirez said that to change the Constitution, you need to first get two-thirds of both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate to concur, and then the matter has to go to the states for ratification. You then need three-quarters of the states on board.
“Donald Trump is going to have to follow that law should he be in the White House again,” Ramirez said.
Contact Acacia Hernandez: @acacia_rosita | [email protected]
