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‘Birthright citizenship has to end’
News:
- USA President Trump plans to sign an executive order that would remove the right to citizenship for babies of non-citizens and unauthorized immigrants born on U.S. soil.
Important Facts:
- The U.S. Department of Homeland Security put the number of foreigners without legal status in the U.S. at a little above 12 million in 2014.
- The President Trump has said that he is planning to sign an executive order ending the birthright citizenship provision i.e., the automatic conferral of U.S. citizenship on any individual born in the country.
- Background: The concept of jus soli (right of the soil) derives from the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, enacted in 1868 after the Civil War, in order to grant legal rights to former slaves.
- It says: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside.”
- Therefore, individuals born in the U.S., to parents on temporary visas or here without a valid visa, are also U.S. citizens.
- According to Trump, granting immediate citizenship to anyone born on U.S. soil, regardless of the legal status of the parents, amounts to encouraging illegal and exploitative immigration.
