Trump promises to abolish birthright citizenship for children of illegal immigrants in the US

(Patria) - Donald Trump said that if re-elected president in 2024, he will seek to abolish automatic citizenship for children born in the United States to illegal immigrants in the country. Trump, the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination, said in a video posted on Twitter that he would issue an executive order directing federal agencies to stop what is known as birthright citizenship, Reuters reported.

Birthright citizenship stems from the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which was ratified in 1868, three years after the end of the American Civil War that ended the practice of enslaving black people in the southern states and overturned a Supreme Court ruling that held that slaves and free African Americans were not entitled to US citizenship. The amendment granted citizenship to all persons "born or naturalized in the United States," including formerly enslaved people, and has been interpreted to apply regardless of whether the parents are in the country legally or not. The proposed executive order, planned for the first day of a second Trump term, would require at least one parent to be a US citizen or lawful permanent resident for their children to automatically become US citizens, according to his campaign statement.

Trump on Tuesday criticized President Joe Biden for the record number of migrants caught crossing the border illegally in recent years, calling the right to citizenship for children born on US soil a "magnet.".