As President Donald Trump signed an executive order eliminating automatic citizenship for those born in the U.S., Republicans in Congress are also working on codifying the order.
Rep. Brian Babin, R-Texas, recently introduced the Birthright Citizenship Act. Like President Trump’s order, it would revoke citizenship for children born in the U.S. to parents not legally present in the U.S.
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His bill was co-signed by 37 Republican members.
Turning President Trump’s executive order into law would make it harder to overturn. President Trump’s executive order could be undone by the next president.
How the Bill Would Work
While the intent of the bill is to limit citizenship at birth to children of parents legally in the U.S., the language of the bill attempts to define the language contained in the 14th Amendment. The first section of the 14th Amendment 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. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."
Babin’s bill would define “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” to include a citizen or national of the United States; an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence in the United States whose residence is in the United States; or an alien performing active service in the armed forces.
Babin says that granting citizenship to all children born in the U.S. is a misinterpretation of the 14th Amendment.
“America’s citizenship laws should reflect fairness and respect for the rule of law,” said Congressman Babin. “This common-sense legislation corrects decades of misuse and closes the loophole that incentivizes illegal immigration and exploits U.S. citizenship through birth tourism. Citizenship is one of our nation’s most precious privileges. By introducing this legislation, we are taking an important step to restore integrity to our immigration system and prioritize the interests of American citizens.”
Constitutional Questions Would Remain
While codification would give more teeth to President Trump’s policy goal, it might not fully address concerns that the policy is unconstitutional. On Thursday, a judge will consider whether to delay implementation of President Trump’s order. As it stands, the executive order goes into effect on Feb. 19.
A group of 22 Democratic-led states argues that birthright citizenship is a right for all people born in the U.S. under the 14th Amendment, which was enacted in 1868. The Americans for Civil Liberties Union also filed a suit against President Trump’s order.
On Thursday, U.S. District Judge John Coughenour issued a temporary restraining order against the Trump administration from enforcing the executive order.
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“Denying citizenship to U.S.-born children is not only unconstitutional — it’s also a reckless and ruthless repudiation of American values. Birthright citizenship is part of what makes the United States the strong and dynamic nation that it is. This order seeks to repeat one of the gravest errors in American history, by creating a permanent subclass of people born in the U.S. who are denied full rights as Americans. We will not let this attack on newborns and future generations of Americans go unchallenged. The Trump administration's overreach is so egregious that we are confident we will ultimately prevail,” said Anthony D. Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union.
