Donald Trump speaks against 'birthright citizenship' in the US
Donald Trump on Tuesday slammed the "birthright citizenship" in the United States, saying undocumented immigrants born in the United States are not real American citizens.
In an interview with Fox news on Tuesday, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump called for all illegal immigrants in the United States to be deported. The real estate mogul said it is time for Americans to "take back" their country and put an end to birthright citizenship, according to CNN.
Trump said all undocumented immigrants in the country should be deported, while the "good ones" can be allowed to return to the United States after going through an expedited legal procedure.
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"What happens is they're in Mexico, they're going to have a baby, they move over here for a couple of days," CNN quotes Trump's statement to Fox. "They have the baby — (the lawyers are) saying it's not going to hold up in court."
On Sunday, Trump unveiled his immigration policy proposal and expressed his intention to prevent illegal immigrants born in the United States from becoming American citizens, the report relays.
The 14th Amendment says all individuals born or naturalized in the United States are considered American citizens. According to most scholars, the amendment is a provision to birthright citizenship. However, Trump and other conservatives disagree with them.
"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," according to Section 1 of the 14th Amendment.
Conservatives have suggested that they could put a stop to birthright citizenship by passing a law defining the last part of the 14th Amendment, which is called the citizenship clause. This clause gives the so-called "anchor babies" automatic citizenship, the Christian Science Monitor explains.
Although there are some Republican presidential candidates who side with Trump in the birthright citizenship issue, none have opened the idea of retroactively stripping some individuals off their American citizenship.
Birthright citizenship began in 1868 when the 14th Amendment was ratified. Back then, the amendment did not pertain to illegal immigration because there were no illegal immigrants at the time. The amendment was created to give back the rights of former slaves after the Civil War.
In 1857, the Dred Scott v. Sandford decision by the U.S. Supreme Court stripped off African-Americans with the privilege stipulated in the 14th amendment, regardless if they were slaves or freemen. The decision was based on the argument that African-Americans were "inferior" to the original Americans and therefore not entitled to the same rights and protections.
The 14th Amendment's citizenship clause was later on added to give back the citizenship rights to African-Americans.
