The 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution is pretty clear when it comes to the citizenship status of babies born on the country's soil:
"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."
That didn't stop President Donald Trump from telling a reporter on Wednesday that he's seeking to amend the Constitution by executive order in a further effort to suppress the rights of immigrants.
In the video below, a reporter asks:
"Are you considering an executive order on birthright citizenship?"
And Trump responds:
"We're looking at that very seriously."
Watch:
Trump can't amend the Constitution by executive order. Full stop.
The constitution can only be amended through four ways. All but one of its 27 amendments has been approved by a two-thirds majority vote in both chambers of Congress and approved by three-fourths of state legislators. Because an amendment can only be repealed with the passage of another amendment, there is no legal way for the President to unilaterally declare the 14th Amendment unconstitutional.
People were quick to point this out.
But sadly, not everyone has full faith that the Constitution will be effectively upheld.
But what would that mean for Trump's children, the majority of whom were born of immigrant mothers?
Trump announced that he was looking into this for the first time ahead of the midterm elections last year, but it was largely seen as just an attempt to drum up Republican support ahead of the 2018 midterms.
With the recent move to detain undocumented immigrants indefinitely and another denying citizenship to documented immigrants on public assistance, his support for this unconstitutional effort may be invigorated.
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