After taking office, Donald Trump plans to revoke birthright citizenship, which could affect the 4.8 million Indian-Americans currently living in the United States.
In keeping with his campaign promise to limit immigration, Donald Trump He has promised to abolish birthright citizenship as soon as he takes office in January.
The controversial plan aims to break a long-standing US practice that guarantees citizenship to anyone born in the United States, regardless of their parents’ immigration status. This policy has been in effect for over 150 years and is protected by the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution.
Birthright Citizenship: What is it?
Anyone born in the United States is automatically granted US citizenship by birthright. Children of people who are in the country illegally or are in the U.S. on tourist or student visas and want to return home are covered by the decade-old law.
The 14th Amendment, which was enacted in 1868, declares that “all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the States in which they reside.” It serves as its basis. Originally, this clause was intended to grant citizenship to former slaves and their descendants.
Not all nations follow this process, and Trump and his supporters say the system is being abused and that more requirements should be put in place to obtain U.S. citizenship.
However, critics of the policy argue that removing it would have significant ramifications, particularly for US-born children of undocumented immigrants or tourists on temporary visas.
Regarding Trump’s birthright citizenship
In an interview this week, Trump said he “definitely” planned to end birthright citizenship once in office.
“We’re going to end it because it’s ridiculous,” he added.
The president-elect argued that this would enable “birth tourism,” where pregnant women enter the U.S. with the sole purpose of giving birth in order to secure U.S. citizenship for their child. “We’re going to change it,” Trump said. “We may have to go back to the people. But we have to end this.”
Despite raising the issue during his first term, Trump has made no significant progress on abolishing birthright citizenship. But this time, the president-elect has resolved to proceed quickly even though he knows that doing so will be full of constitutional and legal problems.
to overcome political and legal obstacles
The 14th Amendment was ratified by Congress in July 1868 after the Civil War. That amendment guaranteed citizenship to all citizens, including black people.
A landmark case in the history of birthright citizenship was the 1898 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that Wong Kim Ark, a Chinese immigrant born in San Francisco, became a U.S. citizen by birth. After the trip abroad, federal authorities tried to bar him from returning to the country on the grounds that he was not a citizen, according to the Chinese Exclusion Act.
“No one should be granted citizenship just by crossing the border and having a baby,” said Eric Ruark, head of research at NumbersUSA, an organization that supports low-immigration. According to Ruark and other conservatives, ending birthright citizenship would reduce incentives for illegal immigration.
Opponents of the proposal warned that it would create a new social and political class in America that is completely disenfranchised. Alex Norasteh, vice president of the immigration-friendly Cato Institute, called Trump’s proposal a “non-starter.” “I don’t think his claims are particularly true. He’s been doing the same thing for about ten years,” Norsteh said. “He didn’t do anything to advance this agenda when he was president.”
Influence on Foreigners
Experts have noted that changing this rule could affect a large number of American citizens. For example, according to Pew Research, there are more than 4.8 million Indian-Americans in the United States, of whom 1.6 million were born there. According to the revised idea, these people will no longer have proof of citizenship.
Trump recently expressed concern about family separation, saying that if birthright citizenship is revoked, families, including children of US citizens, would be deported together.
Because birth certificates are currently the primary form of citizenship documentation, the American Immigration Council issued a fact sheet in 2011 warning that removing birthright citizenship would make it more difficult for U.S. residents to prove their citizenship. Eliminating birthright citizenship would place a substantial administrative burden on the U.S. government and affect millions of American children, according to the fact sheet.
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