End of birthright citizenship in US?

 

In one of his several controversial acts as the 47th US president, Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at ending automatic citizenship rights for nearly anyone born on US territory - known as “birthright citizenship” - a right guaranteed by the 14th Amendment to the Constitution.

This form of citizenship is essentially a legal principle under which citizenship is automatically granted to individuals upon birth.

In general, there are two popular forms of birthright citizenship, namely ancestry-based citizenship and birthplace-based citizenship.

Birthplace-based citizenship, which grants citizenship based on place of birth, is popularly dubbed as jus soli, a Latin term meaning “right of the soil.”

In the United States, this basic principle was judicially confirmed by the 1898 Supreme Court case United States v Wong Kim Ark, which held that children born in the US to immigrant parents are citizens, regardless of their parents’ immigration status.

As expected, there has been a media frenzy over Trump’s immigration policy.

However, despite the attention Trump is getting for this, he is neither the first nor the last to suggest changing the Constitution as a way to reform the US immigration system.

Trump’s critics argue birthright citizenship was included in the citizenship clause in the 14th Amendment because the Supreme Court’s Dred Scott decision of 1857 had denied citizenship to the children of slaves.

Ergo, following the Civil War, the 14th Amendment took a bold step to right such injustice and since then it has become the foundation for civil rights law, equal protection, and due process in the US.

As far as the issue of citizenship is concerned, at the end of the day, it is an innocent baby who will become the real victim! - Mkini

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HANIPA MAIDIN is a former deputy minister of law.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.