President Donald Trump has said that no constitutional amendment was required to do away with the birthright citizenship – the process by which babies born in the country to the non-US nationals automatically become citizens – as this can be done with an executive order, bringing his tough stance on immigration ahead of the crucial mid-term elections next Tuesday.
In his latest hardline immigration rhetoric, the US president had on Tuesday expressed his intention to take the path of executive order to deny automatic citizenship to children born of non-American parents in the US, saying the birthright citizenship “has to end”.
“Birthright citizenship is a very, very important subject. In my opinion, it’s much less complex than people think. I think it says it very loud and clear in the Constitution that you don’t have to go through the process of whatever they’re talking about,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Wednesday.
“You don’t need a Constitutional amendment for birthright citizenship. I believe that you can have a simple vote in Congress or it’s even possible — in my opinion, this is after meeting with some very talented legal scholars — that you can do it through an executive order,” said the US President.
At the same time, Trump said that his first preference would be to make the changes through the Congress, which would be a permanent thing. “I would rather do it through Congress because that’s permanent. But I really believe we can do it through executive order,” he said.
Trump said that the issue would be ultimately decided by the Supreme Court.
