Trump disregards the Supreme Court's ruling and moves forward by signing two new executive orders that limit birthright US citizenship, aiming to prevent foreign women from traveling to the US to give birth and obtain American citizenship for their children.
President Donald Trump signed two new executive orders restricting birthright US citizenship, targeting the phenomenon of "Birth Tourism," where pregnant foreign women travel to the US to give birth and gain American citizenship for their children, despite a recent Supreme Court ruling that previous attempts by Trump were unconstitutional.
Stephen Miller, White House advisor, stated that ending the exploitation of the tourist birth loophole, or "Birth Tourism," is a key immigration policy of the Trump administration. Following the signing ceremony in the Oval Office today, birth tourism will be banned.
This action follows the US Supreme Court's decision on 30 June not to uphold Trump's previous executive order, which sought to deny citizenship to children born in the US if their parents were not US citizens or green card holders, ruling it unconstitutional.
However, the Trump administration insists the new orders have a narrower scope and aim to reinterpret the historical exceptions of birthright citizenship to expand the categories of people excluded from US citizenship.
The new orders also restrict citizenship rights for children born in the US to foreign government officials, as well as children of individuals designated as enemies of the state, and could affect those born in US overseas territories if Congress passes legislation ending automatic citizenship there.
Many legal experts believe the new executive orders may have unclear legal standing, given the recent Supreme Court ruling on the same issue, while immigrant rights and human rights organizations view it as an attempt to circumvent the court's decision.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) stated that the orders are likely to be struck down by the courts once again.
Deborah Fleischer, a former Biden administration official now with UnidosUS, said birthright citizenship is a constitutional guarantee upheld for more than 150 years and is not a power the president can change at will.
Meanwhile, the Women's Refugee Commission warned that the measures could affect the rights of pregnant women legally traveling to the US and called on the government to issue guidelines consistent with the Supreme Court's ruling.
Trump said during the signing ceremony that the Supreme Court's 30 June ruling was very unfortunate and accused some of profiting from businesses that bring pregnant women to the US to give birth so their children gain citizenship.
He stated that birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment was originally enacted after the Civil War to protect the children of freed slaves, not to accommodate foreign women traveling today to give birth in the US.
However, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in a previous ruling that the framers of the Constitution intended the principle to cover all persons born in the US and subject to its jurisdiction, affirming citizenship as a right maintained to the present day.
The Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment states, "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."
Source:Channelnewsasia
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