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PROGRESSIVES SLAM TRUMP PLAN TO END BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP  
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Jessica Corbett
December 9, 2024
Common Dreams
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_ "Emboldened by a Supreme Court that would use its power to uphold
white supremacy rather than the constitution of our nation, Trump is
on a mission to weaken the very soul of our nation," said Rep. Delia
Ramirez. _

Donald Trump during interview on Meet the Press, screen grab

 

Progressives in Congress and other migrant rights advocates sharply
criticized U.S. President-elect Donald Trump
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immigration during a Sunday interview
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to end birthright citizenship.

During a 76-minute interview with _NBC News_' Kristen Welker,
Trump said
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"absolutely" intends to end birthright citizenship, potentially
through executive order, despite the 14th Amendment
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the U.S. Constitution. Among many
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the Republican told, he also falsely claimed that the United States is
the only country to offer citizenship by birth; in fact, there
are dozens
[[link removed].].

In response, outgoing
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Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal
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Monday: "This is completely un-American. The 14th Amendment guarantees
birthright citizenship. Trump cannot unilaterally end it, and any
attempt to do so would be both unconstitutional and immoral."

Congresswoman Gwen Moore (D-Wis.) similarly stressed
[[link removed](D-Wis.).] that
"birthright citizenship is enshrined in the Constitution as a
cornerstone of American ideals. It reflects our belief that America is
the land of opportunity. Sadly, this is just another in the long line
of Trump's assault on the U.S. Constitution."

Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.), the daughter of Guatemalan
immigrants, said
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a statement: "'Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses
yearning to breathe free.' It is important to remember who we are,
where many of us came from, and why many of our families traveled here
to be greeted by the Mother of Exiles, the Statue of Liberty."

Ramirez argued that "the story of our nation wouldn't be complete
without the sweat, tears, joy, dreams, and hopes of so many children
of immigrants who are citizens by birthright and pride themselves on
being AMERICANS. It is the story of so many IL-03 communities,
strengthened by the immigration of people from Poland, Ukraine, Italy,
Mexico, and Guatemala, among others. It is the story of many members
of Congress who can point to the citizenship of their forebears and
ancestors because of immigration and birthright."

"Let's be clear: Trump is posing the question of who gets to be an
American to our nation. And given that today's migrants are from
Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, and Latin and Central America, it is
clear he is questioning who are the 'right' people to benefit from
birthright citizenship," she continued. "Questioning birthright
citizenship is anti-American, and eliminating it through executive
action is unconstitutional. Donald Trump knows that."

"But emboldened by a Supreme Court that would use its power to uphold
white supremacy rather than the Constitution of our nation, Trump is
on a mission to weaken the very soul of our nation," she warned.
"I—like many sons and daughters of immigrants and first-generation
Americans—believe in and fight for a land of freedom, opportunities,
and equality. To live into that promise, we must stand against white
nationalism—especially when it is espoused at the highest levels of
government."

Although Republicans are set to control both the U.S. Senate and the
House of Representatives next year, amending the
Constitution requires
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from two-thirds of both chambers of Congress and three-fourths of the
state legislatures, meaning that process is unlikely to be attempted
for this policy.

Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.) highlighted the difficulties of
passing constitutional amendments while discussing Trump in a Monday
appearance on _CNN_. The incoming chair of the Congressional Hispanic
Caucus was born in the Dominican Republic and is the first
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undocumented immigrant elected to Congress.

As _Mother Jones_ reporter Isabela Dias detailed
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Critics of ending birthright citizenship for the U.S.-born children of
undocumented immigrants argue it would not only constitute bad policy,
but also a betrayal of American values and, as one scholar put it to
me, a "prelude" to mass deportation.

"It's really 100 years of accepted interpretation," Hiroshi Motomura,
a scholar of immigration and citizenship at UCLA's law school, told me
of birthright citizenship. Ending birthright citizenship would cut at
the core of the hard-fought assurance of equal treatment under the
law, he said, "basically drawing a line between two kinds of American
citizens."

Trump's _NBC_ interview also addressed his long-promised mass
deportations [[link removed]]. The
president-elect—whose first administration was globally condemned
for separating migrant families at the southern border and second
administration is already filling up 
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hard-liners—suggested
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would deport children who are U.S. citizens with undocumented parents.

"I don't want to be breaking up families, so the only way you don't
break up the family is you keep them together and you have to send
them all back," Trump told Welker.

Responding in a Monday statement, America's Voice executive director
Vanessa Cárdenas said
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"There's a growing consensus
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the Trump mass deportation agenda will hit American consumers and
industries hard, but the scope of what Trump and his team are
proposing goes well beyond the economic impact."

"Trump and allies are making clear their mass deportation agenda will
include deporting U.S. citizens, including children, while aiming to
gut a century and a half of legal and moral precedent on birthright
citizenship," she added. "In total, their attacks go well beyond the
narrow lens of immigration to the fundamental question of who gets to
be an American."

_Jessica Corbett
[[link removed]] is a senior
editor and staff writer for Common Dreams. @corbett_jessica
[[link removed]] email: [email protected]
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_Common Dreams [[link removed]] is a
reader-supported independent news outlet created in 1997 as a new
media model._

_Our nonprofit newsroom covers the most important news stories of the
moment. Common Dreams free online journalism keeps our millions of
readers well-informed, inspired, and engaged._

_We are optimists. We believe real change is possible. But only if
enough well-informed, well-intentioned—and just plain fed up and
fired-up—people demand it. We believe that together we can attain
our common dreams._

* birthright citizenship
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* 14th amendment
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* Donald Trump
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