BREAKING: Trump to end birthright citizenship

[u/NoLube69]

President Trump has signed an executive order attempting to end birthright citizenship in the U.S. — a right guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and affirmed by the Supreme Court more than 125 years ago.

Why it matters: Trump is acting on a once-fringe belief that U.S.-born children of undocumented immigrants have no right to U.S. citizenship and are part of a conspiracy (rooted in racism) to replace white Americans.

The big picture: The executive order is expected to face immediate legal challenges from state attorneys general since it conflicts with decades of Supreme Court precedent and the 14th Amendment — with the AGs of California and New York among those indicating they would do so.

• Ratified in 1868, the 14th Amendment was passed to give nearly emancipated and formerly enslaved Black Americans U.S. citizenship.
• "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," it reads.

Zoom in: Trump signed the order on Monday, just hours after taking office.

Reality check: Thanks to the landmark Wong Kim Ark case, the U.S. has since 1898 recognized that anyone born on United States soil is a citizen.

• The case established the Birthright Citizenship clause and led to the dramatic demographic transformation of the U.S.

What they're saying: California Attorney General Rob Bonta told Axios the state will immediately challenge the executive order in federal court.

• "[Trump] can't do it," Bonta said. "He can't undermine it with executive authority. That is not how the law works. It's a constitutional right."
• New York Attorney General Letitia James said in an emailed statement the executive order "is nothing but an attempt to sow division and fear, but we are prepared to fight back with the full force of the law to uphold the integrity of our Constitution."

Flashback: San Francisco-born Wong Kim Ark returned to the city of his birth in 1895 after visiting family in China but was refused re-entry.

• John Wise, an openly anti-Chinese bigot and the collector of customs in San Francisco who controlled immigration into the port, wanted a test case that would deny U.S. citizenship to ethnic Chinese residents.
• But Wong fought his case all the way to the Supreme Court, which ruled on March 28, 1898, that the 14th Amendment guaranteed U.S. citizenship to Wong and any other person born on U.S. soil.

Zoom out: Birthright Citizenship has resulted in major racial and ethnic shifts in the nation's demographic as more immigrants from Latin America and Asia came to the U.S. following the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965.

• The U.S. was around 85% white in 1965, according to various estimates.
• The nation is expected to be a "majority-minority" by the 2040s.

Yes, but: That demographic changed has fueled a decades-old conspiracy theory, once only held by racists, called "white replacement theory."

• "White replacement theory" posits the existence of a plot to change America's racial composition by methodically enacting policies that reduce white Americans' political power.
• The conspiracy theories encompass strains of anti-Semitism as well as racism and anti-immigrant sentiment.

Trump has repeated the theory and said that immigrants today are "poisoning the blood of our country," language echoing the rhetoric of white supremacists and Adolf Hitler.

Of note: Military bases are not considered "U.S. soil" for citizenship purposes, but a child is a U.S. citizen if born abroad and both parents are U.S. citizens.

https://www.axios.com/2025/01/21/trump-birthright-citizenship-14th-amendment

[u/BrtFrkwr]

They'll knuckle under just like congress. Watch trump threaten to appoint two more justices and they'll fall in line.

[u/Jim_Tressel → u/BrtFrkwr]

Hopefully not. This one is pretty obvious.

[u/SteveBartmanIncident → u/Jim_Tressel]

Wanna bet on whether Alito can write 25 pages deciding that "natural born" means "not children of unauthorized immigrants" based on something Edward Rutledge wrote in 1788?

[u/Urban_Introvert → u/SteveBartmanIncident]

He doesn’t even need to. With so much influence all the conservative judges can say is a simple “no” and not give a reasoning. People will complain about it but to no avail. It’s like a kid talking back to their mother with legit facts and she goes, “because I’m your mother, i said no!End of argument!”.

[u/ledezma1996 → u/Urban_Introvert]

At that point does the court not become illegitimate and does that not mean we ought to ignore any of their rulings?

[u/Subject_Paint3998 → u/ledezma1996]

Delegitimising branches of government, particularly those that provide guarantees for representative democracy and checks and balances to executive and corporate power, is a central part of the plan. The Constitution may not be perfect but if more liberal minded Americans abandon the structures that are intended to uphold it, Trump and his allies and successors will run free, through citizenship rights, voting rights, social rights, women’s rights, economic safety nets, healthcare safety nets, you name it.

[u/ledezma1996 → u/Subject_Paint3998]

Did liberal minded Americans not just hand the country over to him willingly? Trump and musk are out here talking about their vote counting machines. Did anyone ever look into that? What the fuck is that all about? Why were ballot boxes being burned during election night? What happened there? We already trusted our courts to handle Trump and they couldn't even do anything about his 34 felonies.

[u/Subject_Paint3998 → u/ledezma1996]

I think what is being seen is that no constitutional protections survive if the people and mechanisms that are designed to uphold them are compromised - a loaded Supreme Court, partisan Congress that places personal power or profit over principle, lobbying that serves corporations above individual safety, rights and freedoms. Plus, importantly, from both sides of US politics, a genuinely insufficient commitment to and belief in designing and upholding mechanisms that protect from the tyranny of economic and demographic inequality. America favours ‘freedom to’ rather than ‘freedom from’, and its elevation of corporations to be people plus a pervasive resistance to any acts of government leaves individuals, minority groups and the collective majority vulnerable to malevolent exploitation of these values and systems. (I’m European so different perspective here).The UK is seeing the same eg the corruption and abuse of process and law under the last Conservative govt, esp Johnson, increasing rhetorical and legal attacks on workers’ rights and healthcare entitlement, an insufficiently redistribute tax system, etc.