US President Donald Trump recently pledged to revoke the right to citizenship of non-citizen parents on American soil. In particular the children of illegal immigrants, which raised a legal debate over Trump's ability to carry out his pledge.
"What is known as the right to citizenship by birth, which costs our country billions of dollars and oppresses our citizens a lot, will end in one way or another," Trump said through his favorite platform.
Article 14 of the US Constitution states that "all persons born in or in the United States and under its jurisdiction are citizens of the United States and citizens of the State in which they reside."
Many say this law means that even illegitimate refugee children are considered US citizens if they are born in the United States.
Conservative Trump supporters, however, believe that American-born children can be denied access to parents of illegal immigrants, according to the Washington-based ezmeiner.
Interpretation supported by Trump
Law professor John Eastman says the 14th Amendment to the Constitution has been wrongly applied for years, referring to a term in the law that could benefit Trump, "subject to American law," which meant that it meant those who were loyal to the United States.
He added that the phrase opens the door to a legal interpretation that deprives children born on US territory of parents of illegal immigrants of nationality.
The US Supreme Court began to grant citizenship to immigrants at the end of the 19th century when it granted citizenship to a Chinese immigrant child born in San Francisco to immigrant parents from China.
Eastman commented that this situation applies only to children of permanent resident migrants, not illegal immigrants.
The Supreme Court will refuse
On the other hand, other experts say there are obstacles to Trump's argument, saying that the Supreme Court is unlikely to reverse what the United States has been doing for decades.
The expert at the Cato Institute in Washington, Elia Shapiro, explains that he believes that the Supreme Court will not support Trump in his endeavor, pointing out that any amendment in the current law needs a constitutional amendment and not an executive decision issued by Trump only.
He said that Trump is behind these statements to achieve political goals linked to the midterm elections in the US Congress, scheduled on Tuesday.
