Donald Trump tries to kill birthright citizenship with executive order

Fourteenth Amendment Section 1 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.

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

I don't get how you square those two together.

Probably with “The founders only wanted what I think they wanted, despite their explicit instructions”
- Interpreting old texts to match their own personal beliefs is what Christo fascists are best at.
Look no further than the dissent to United States v. Wong Kim Ark (when the Supreme Court ruled that the passage you cited grants citizenship by birthright), written by Chief Justice Melville Fuller, the mastermind behind such legal opinions as:
Racial segregation is completely legal (Plessy v. Ferguson)
States can't regulate workplace conditions or enact maximum working hours laws (Lochner v. New York)
Income tax is unconstitutional (Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust)
Anyway, he wrote:
the children of Chinese born in this country do not, ipso facto, become citizens of the United States unless the fourteenth amendment overrides both treaty and statute
and
[Birthright citizenship means] the children of foreigners, happening to be born to them while passing through the country, whether of royal parentage or not, or whether of the Mongolian, Malay or other race, were eligible to the presidency, while children of our citizens, born abroad, were not.
So in other words, he was willing to rule that the constitution is optional as long as you are using it against undesirable races in order to get his way.
- unless the fourteenth amendment overrides both treaty and statute
  It absolutely does! That's the point!
- You can be born abroad to US citizens and still be a citizen.
You just lie about the second part and have a government full of sycophants and a corrupt Supreme Court that declares that everything you do is by definition legal.
It's why they used the language of "invaders". 14th amendment doesn't provide protection for invaders. This is the first step in working around the constitution.
Don’t worry, the bootlickers in the Supreme Court will find the dumbest argument you ever heard to rationalize it.
Oaths and honor don't matter to the corrupt and degenerate.
Only the second one matters
- Lol, neither of them matter, bud.
I'm sure Scalia will find some 15th century witch burner who's writings justify it somehow.
SCOTUS: well you see here, I can’t seem to find my reading glasses between these stacks of cash… ah yes here they are, it’s legal because we say so.

The heritage foundation has an argument prepared for the inevitable supreme court case. I think it's shit, even for them, but SCOTUS seems like they'll go along with anything.

Their argument hinges on the phrase "and subject to the jurisdiction there of" claiming that this somehow excludes non-citizens. Accepting this argument would have the weird implication of saying that non-citizens in the US are not subject to the jurisdiction of the US. So... how do other laws apply to them? How could they be charged with working or entering the US illegally?

That clause was targeted at, and is still targeted at, foreign diplomats who have diplomatic immunity. If you can't be compelled to to pay your parking tickets because you put the little flag on your car, then your babies also don't get to be Americans. Easy.
If your typical non-little-flag-on-car undocumented immigrants are really "not subject to the jurisdiction," then how can you arrest them for all of the horrible crimes they are allegedly committing?
- The answer there is easy and horrifying. Since they're "not subject to" the law of the US, you can basically declare them outlaws. The od-school use of the term, basically meaning "this person exists outside of legal sight, so anything that happens to them is entirely legal because they don't exist as a legal entity in our sight."
  The end game is open season on anyone who "looks illegal".
- I suspect that was probably not as much on their mind as the prospect of a US territory temporarily occupied by a foreign military. I fully anticipated that they would attempt this comparison (despite clearly subjecting illegal immigrants to the jurisdiction). Even if it is incorrect, I could at least see them making that attempt.
  I'm surprised that they are trying to extend this to include people legally in the US, with every legal basis to be here and no whiff of any vaguely dubious relationship with jurisdiction..
Say what you will about Trump, but he sure knows how to get us to learn about the Constitution!
That phase seems to say you have to be solely subject to the jurisdiction of the US. I.e., that you couldn’t also later claim to be a citizen (or subject to laws of) another nation.
At least that’s what an article I read said, which wasn’t written in direct response to this EO.
- It doesn't say solely. If they meant solely they would have written that. It's very obvious it means if you have to obey the laws then you count. Diplomats with immunity don't count.
  Edit: As further evidence, you're subject to state laws as well, not just the United States laws.
The laws don't have to make sense as long as they're in power.
Even then, they'll likely rig the 2026 elections, to get a supermajority, so they can just replace the constitution with one that is 100% compatible with christofascism.
- Unless they completely throw out the Constitution they still have to let the states run elections. And the States generally aren't interested in rigging their elections.
Don't you worry, this will also be retroactive! People will have their American citizenship taken away.
- I was worried about this and had to check, the executive order text has a section which states it only applies to those born 30 days after the signing of the EO. Who knows what the fuck the supreme court will extrapolate that to, though.
What would that mean for foreigners detained for crimes committed outside the USA? We had a bunch of people in Guantanamo at one point who met those circumstances.
I can't see how this would work. The "subject to the jurisdiction thereof" part refers to the children born in the US, not their parents. But don't quote me on this, I'm not a lawyer.

with critics calling it unconstitutional.

You don't need to be a critic to call it unconstitutional. It is, as it contradicts an Amendment.

This exactly. It is COMPLETELY unconstitutional in the very definition of the word.
- No no no cmon, yesterday, the president made an oath to uphold and protect the constitution. You're telling me he was lying to us?!

Would you like to know more?

You jest but serving in the US military is a legit way to gain citizenship.
- It's not a guarantee, though, but it should be. If you serve for, say, 5 years and have not been dishonorably discharged, you should be automatically eligible for citizenship.
  As of now, serving only exempts you from the continuous residence and physical presence requirements. You still need to be a permanent resident, know English, understand the US government and history, and demonstrate "good moral character" for at least a year out of the military.
  Permanent residency shouldn't be mandated for soldiers. They're choosing to serve for the US - isn't that enough? The English and US government/history requirement should be waived under the assumption that they understand all of those well enough after training and serving in the military. Good moral character really is just that you haven't committed any serious crime which is fine.
- Except when it's not.
- That's currently true, but I was also referring to the universe of Starship Troopers (the movie, vs the Heinlein novel), where it appears that birthright citizenship is no more, and military service (to the crypto-fascist government) is the only realistic path to citizenship for most US residents in that universe.
- I was under the impression that only US citizens could serve, no?
very fucking funny (by which I mean not funny at all) that I can take the test, pay roughly a grand, and be considered more secure in my citizenship than someone born here.

If only there was a document that prevented that

https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/our-government/the-constitution/

Oh wait, it's gone!

Fuck, lots to unpack here.
Sooooo, that actually is his official portrait? I thought someone posted it as satire. At least he's not hiding that he's the villain.
"America we're back" is his slogan? That and the pic looks after school special.
The loading screen icon is the White House -- was it always? Because as a Canadian all it invokes in me is the memory of us burning it down.
Did the constitution page get remapped? Or is it gone, gone?
- So I was just thinking they were being cheeky and posted a fake URL that would show an error from the Whitehouse website, but I Googled "whitehouse website constitution" and google has a link to their page on the constitution... It's gone.
Oh shit.
https://usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/01/21/trump-white-house-website-removes-presidential-webpages/77851785007/
This is what comes up when I search "white house website constitution"
The link works for me, but is curiously still tagged as the Biden Whitehouse.
- https://www.archives.gov/ is like archive.org but for the US Government.
  It would make sense that they archive government websites
Donald Trump is Nicolas Cage in a wig and orange makeup, confirmed.

argues against the 14th Amendment

critics calling it unconstitutional

Uuuuh yeaaah, no shit...

Can't wait for the Right to recognize that if they normalize nullifying constitutional amendments with executive orders, the next Democrat president can just use that to nullify the 2nd Amendment that they're so terribly fond of.

Of course that assumes there will be another election some day.

next Democrat president
LOL. Fascism is here. There will never be another Democrat president.
- Fascism is here in part because Democrat presidents aren't actually on a different team.
that assumes that the Dems will actually do literally anything at all.
Democrat president can just use that to nullify the 2nd Amendment
Can, but won't, because that would be "going low" and "we aren't like them"
You know, like cowardly dipshits
Yeah, if they let him start dictating constitutional amendments by executive order there definitely won't be a next election.
- The next election may come after a civil war,.but there will be a next election.
I don't think that's a problem. Even if they didn't plan to begin their dictatorship now, Biden had immunity and didn't do a goddamn thing with it. Democrats don't do anything.
- POTUS immunity wasn't a blanket grant of absolute power. It was just the same BS immunity that cops get for what they do as cops.
the next Democrat president
lol, cute of you to think there will be a "next election".
- Of course that assumes there will be another election some day.
  Yeah I addressed that.
Doesn't work because the legal body is republican controlled. Only republican choices are above the law.

states should arrest border patrol agents attempting this.

Democrats should threaten to charge anyone attempting this of human trafficking.

I think recent events have shown Democrats are incapable of helping anybody but themselves. And even then they're shit.
- Some of the state parties have considerably more teeth.
Except for the liberal bubbles in Houston and Dallas, I'm pretty sure most Texans are pretty gung-ho in favor of this and will be giving border patrol agents free lunches. No ICE, DHS, or Border Patrol agents will be getting arrest by the southern states
- You're forgetting Arizona and California. Arizona's Blue Wave is particularly left leaning too...
- supposing democrats wake up a little (fat chance) federal democrats should say that they will ensure any person that attempts to act outaside the guardrails of the constitution will be charged with crimes when they regain power.

just now realizing everything I have done in my life in trying to contribute less plastic and waste less is not even 0.00001% compared to the environmental damage these executive orders are going to do.

Take off your individualism hat and put on your collective hat. Group actions make a difference.
- Both things can be true.
  OP can be doing good.
  And potus can be doing shit and running rough-shod over the working class
- It's a lot easier to disappear a guy as a group
The "you are personally responsible for climate change" was always a scam. It is the big corporations that are responsible.
I'm upset that I'm too ingrained in my ways to become a greedy, racist, sexist, boorish asshole because those guys are gonna have an amazing four years.

Love how he swore an oath to uphold the constitution then a few hours later signs and executive order that goes against it

Just like he has one executive order for energy production and another to pause offshore wind farm leases

Stay tuned for a new constitutional crisis every day!

Just one per day? I'm expecting at least two.

We can finally deport Ted Cruz. Pack your bags bitch!

No. Keep him. Kevin o'leary too.
- Only if you promise to make the entire US your 14th Province, or no deal!
- I thought O'Leary was Canadian? Did he emigrate to the U.S.?
We don't want him back

Constitutional lawyers are going to be making a fortune over the next 4 years. Fuck you America. Just fuck y'all.

The Supreme Court has been bought and paid for by right wing special interest organizations like the Heritage Foundation. This obviously illegal order will be upheld. At best, there might be a single right wing judge that crosses to make it a 4-vote dissent.

The rule of law is dead in America. This has been planned since the Painter memo in 1971. The fascist takeover is happening.

This commenter is correct, this is largely the result of the work of the Heritage Foundation and it's been a half-century in the making. This would be the appropriate time to arm yourselves (get a long one and a short one) and learn how to use them. Start networking with like-minded people in your communities. Learn basic first aid, you just need to know how to stabilize someone. Learn to fix things, grow food, be more self-reliant. The police will not protect us and things may get very bad in the coming decade.

The payload

Among the categories of individuals born in the United States and not subject to the jurisdiction thereof, the privilege of United States citizenship does not automatically extend to persons born in the United States:

(1) when that person’s mother was unlawfully present in the United States and the father was not a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident at the time of said person’s birth, or

(2) when that person’s mother’s presence in the United States at the time of said person’s birth was lawful but temporary (such as, but not limited to, visiting the United States under the auspices of the Visa Waiver Program or visiting on a student, work, or tourist visa) and the father was not a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident at the time of said person’s birth.

Which is absolutely ridiculous. In the first case if they aren't subject to your jurisdiction then you cannot deport them. And in the second they would not need a visa. You can't have it both ways. You can't make them subject to our laws without them being subject to the United State's Jurisdiction.

That’s not true. Even diplomats, who this clause was written for, can be expelled from the country.
- Even that's a limited form of jurisdiction. Managed by treaty, the same level as the Constitution.

“It’s ridiculous, we’re the only country in the world that does this with birthright, as you know, and it’s just absolutely ridiculous. We think we have really good grounds. People have wanted to do this for decades.”

Canada has birthright citizenship.

Trump is ignorant and Trump is stupid.

Congratulations, America, you elected a convicted felon, adjudicated rapist, serial sexual assaulter and harasser, serial adulterer, serial fraudster, pathological liar, lifelong con man, and wannabe dictator but more importantly you elected a fucking idiot.

Twice
- Twice
- He wasn't a convicted felon the first time around.
That and Trump made at least three different attempts (that we know of) to remain in office last time. Fake electors, find those Georgia votes, and an actual attack on the Capitol. The GOP and her voters then spent four years squawking about election security and fraud. Their jackass right wing media spent time revamping white replacement theory... so they have to on some level understand democracy and voting.
So what do the big on the rule of law real Americans do? They vote for the only candidate that tried to disenfranchise a whole shit ton of American voters. It is absolutely wild that so many domesticated standard Americans failed this very very basic test.
We're number 1! U.S.A!!

How does this work? Aren't most people citizens because of birthright citizenship?

My ancestors certainly didn't do the proper paperwork before landing here.
Yes if you aren't Native American, your family probably gained citizenship through birthright.
You can be a natural born citizen either by being here when born or by being born to a US citizen. The order challenges the former.
I saw people accurately predict that they would hang such an order on the "and subject to the jurisdiction thereof" portion. The argument was predicted to be that a mother on US soil unlawfully is excluded by that clause (though they are clearly subject to the jurisdiction despite being unlawful, this was the guess).
They are trying to push it even further by claiming people here legally also don't get the right, and there's not even a hint of rationalization to claim that somehow people legally here are not "subject to the jurisdiction".
- If pregnant women from other countries aren't under the jurisdiction of the United States I've got an idea for the perfect crime
We aren't far from Starship Troopers' '"Service guarantees citizenship."
- https://www.uscis.gov/military/naturalization-through-military-service
  We're really not.
Right now just being born on US soil automatically makes you a US citizen, regardless of if your parents are or not. It works that way in a lot of countries. I knew a guy in school who's parents are both British, his mother started giving birth to him on a plane so they did an emergency landing in Cyprus. Due to being born there he has both British and Cypriot citizenship.
This change would stop that happening in the US. Your parents would have to be citizens for you to become one as soon as you're born.
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."
The court has read that as: "All persons born" OR " naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof".
Trump wants it to read: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States" AND "subject to the jurisdiction thereof "
His take: Anchor babies are not "Subject to the jurisdiction" and thus are not citizens.
- All we have to do is ask what happens to a "migrant" baby left at a fire house.
  Straight to the state care system?
  Oh wow.
- That doesn't clear too much for me. Are you saying that everybody needs to go through the citizenship process and take the citizenship test? I'm not sure what the part about "subject to the jurisdiction thereof" means exactly.

I noticed a trend with Trump's executive order spree yesterday - almost all of them are just fluff or red meat for the base that don't have any effect on anything, like the one defining genders, and others are so blatantly unconstitutional that they will be challenged and most likely never implemented, like the one in question terminating birthright citizenship - it's guaranteed to go before the courts and get struck down. Doing something like that would require an constitutional amendment.

He's counting on the goldfish brain base to give him credit for doing these wacky things and then not pay attention three weeks from now when an ACLU lawsuit essentially puts the order in limbo before it dies in front of a judge.

Trump might as well sign an executive order that declares himself Emperor of the Moon and Supreme Chancellor of Outer Space, it'll have about the same amount of impact as this first round of executive orders will.

t’s guaranteed to go before the courts and get struck down
If only trump controlled the highest court in all the land. A "supreme" court, if you will.
That said, trump and his allies have been pretty open that the idea is to spam EOs to demoralize people and distract them from what they are really doing. And, in this case, Legal Eagle (and Liz Dye) kind of already explained it:
The idea will be to declare a border crisis (done) to give the potus wider reaching powers. Same with declaring Mexican cartels as terrorists (they kind of are, but not to us). The combination of those mean they can invade sanctuary cities under "national security" excuses and can argue that illegal immigrants are enemy combatants which DO have a carve out.
The "quirk" of Kamala no longer being a citizen because her parents were here under student (?) visas MIGHT get struck down. But the real goal of populating labor camps with brown people is right on track.
- If Trump actually controlled the Supreme Court, we never would have had a president Biden. The Supreme Court mainly cares about increasing their own power. They'd never allow the office of the president to have the power to overturn the constitution by fiat.
it’s guaranteed to go before the courts and get struck down. Doing something like that would require an constitutional amendment.
lolwut?
With this SCOTUS, they will pluck the case out of the line, before it goes down any circuit, and they will issue a ruling declaring it constitutional.
That's what happens when you have a bought-and-paid-for SCOTUS.
- They'll probably strike down one or two of them just so they can claim "look, we're still independent!!"
  Of course the ones to get struck down have already been agreed upon
Trump might as well sign an executive order that declares himself Emperor of the Moon and Supreme Chancellor of Outer Space, it’ll have about the same amount of impact as this first round of executive orders will.
Look, not to call you out or anything, but the impact of these edicts (however nonsensical) is radically different now that he's in office.
The problem isn't the legitimacy or legality of any such order, it's the veracity and scope to which they are carried out regardless of those facts. He just pardoned the Jan 6th insurrectionists. Now, people that are handed off-the-wall, yet much more clear, orders from the White House can now go on thinking that illegal activity pursued in the name of said order will be washed away. So, stuff like this will cause damage to be done well before any courts can intervene, constitutionality be damned.
As a bonus, this adds culpability to the actions of his subordinates. Step in line or lose your job. Fail me after committing a crime and you go straight to prison. This is an organized crime tactic to keep shady people in line.
- That's the key. With these ECs and the pardons, Trump's lackies are free to do whatever they want, using these as an excuse. If anything does happen to them, Trump made it clear he'll pardon them. and if Trump is scrutinized, he's got the SC on his side who just gave the president unlimited power. And if push comes to shove, he'll just pardon himself.
  There is literally nothing holding him accountable anymore. Nothing and no one.
- I understand that. What I'm hoping is that the rest of the members of government will remember that Trump cannot do it without them. All an executive order really is, at it's core, is direction for how federal agencies should conduct their business. None of it circumvents congress or the courts. Yes, I know, those two branches of government aren't on our side either, but at the very least I expect them to be slimy enough to know when they have leverage and use it to their advantage - stall out or kill legislation before it has a chance to become anything more than just an executive order full of hot air if for no reason other than to extract concessions from Trump. It all adds up.
There are no longer checks nor balances.

I never ever ever want to hear anymore excuses from democrats about "oh, but we did kinda do the one thing. Governance is hard, and we just couldn't get 100% of Congress to agree. The republicans bullied us until we came and we're all out of gas :("

I mean, this isn't really governance. It's Trump signing an executive order that will never come to pass without an constitutional amendment, which isn't going to happen. Trump might have promised to be a dictator on day 1, but no matter how much he fancies himself a king, he will always have to work within the boundaries of the framework of government, no matter how ratfucked it might be. Expect this one to be struck down in court very quickly.
- Doubt. Do we have a remind me bot here? Pretty sure the scotus will hold most of these up, regardless of whether they should.

Deport Baron

Deport Elon

It's almost like the vow he made to protect the constitution just yesterday was completely empty and meaningless.

Republicans opposing elements of the 14th amendment after decades of claiming to love the constitution. Not surprising.

But yeah, we have birthright citizenship in the 14th amendment for a reason. Even if we were the only country to have it, where it's found would explain why.

Instead let's fix the other things we're the only country with like our antiquated system of measurement or our health care system

I don't even understand what this will mean. Why does the donvict care so much about this?

Would this mean that while Elon was here illegally and if he had kids with someone with the same status, his kids would not be citizens?

Why does the donvict care so much about this?
Conservatives hate foreigners, and love watching them get kicked in the face. This is porn for his base.
- Who they consider foreign is also highly subjective. If a German tourist who barely speaks English and has the thickest accent you've heard is accidentally mistaken for an immigrant, he will be seen as more American than that Hispanic guy whose family were here before the 20th century.
Hurt brown ppl. Member when they ended public pool segregation? Instead of letting their kids swim with black kids the white ppl closed the pools instead.
No. Elon's rich.

Trump’s SCOTUS will take care of this, no problem.

Step 1: Reinterpret the 14th Amendment so hundreds of thousands of immigrants lose their citizenship
Step 2: Mass deportation

I've actually thought the law to be very stupid and old.