Birthright Citizenship

Trump Plan to End Birthright Citizenship Via Executive Order Is Unconstitutional: Reason Roundup

Plus: Southern border will see more troops than Iraq, Syria.

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Large image on homepages | Phil McAuliffe/Polaris/Newscom
(Phil McAuliffe/Polaris/Newscom)

Phil McAuliffe/Polaris/Newscom

President Donald Trump said he's considering issuing an executive order to end birthright citizenship in the U.S. Trump told Axios reporter Jonathan Swan on Monday that he had discussed with his lawyers ending this tradition—which grants citizenship to children born on U.S. soil even if their parents are not citizens, per the 14th Amendment—and plans to proceed despite constitutional concerns.

"It was always told to me that you needed a constitutional amendment. Guess what? You don't," said Trump. "It's in the process. It'll happen … with an executive order."

Constitutional law professors and pundits seem to agree that this would be illegal.

It also provides good evidence for the wisdom of orginalist interpretations of the Constitution, suggests Case Western Reserve University law professor and The Volokh Conspiracy blogger Jonathan Adler.

And here's University of Texas professor and Lawfare blogger Steve Vladeck:

Meanwhile, immigration and Trump administration reporters have been cautioning against making too much of the president's comments or reporting on them without proper context—such as that Trump's claims we're the only country with birthright citizenship are untrue, or that we've been here before.

Read more about Trump's animosity toward birthright citizenship and the 14th Amendment in Damon Root's 2015 feature "Trump vs. the Constitution," in which Root notes that "the text and history of the 14th Amendment are clear: If a child is born on U.S. soil, and that child's parents don't happen to be diplomats, foreign ministers, or invading foreign troops, then that child is a U.S. citizen by virtue of birth."

FOLLOW-UP

Migrant caravan inspires more Mexican border militarization. Thousands more troops will be deployed to the U.S.-Mexico border, the Pentagon announced yesterday. An additional 5,200 troops will join the nearly 3,000 National Guard members already there. Buzzfeed points out "that is more than are currently deployed to Iraq and Syria" and "about half the US military presence of 15,000 in Afghanistan."

More importantly, it's more than double the number of people traveling north through Mexico to seek asylum here. Many have characterized Trump's fearmongering about migrant caravan "invaders" as a midterm election ploy. It also seems to be a step toward ongoing militarization of the U.S. border and possible preparations for building Trump's promised wall. Those deployed will include members of the Army Corps of Engineers who will help with construction projects, according to a Pentagon press conference. They and other newly-deployed military members will be stationed in southern Arizona, California, and Texas.

Conservative media has mostly been happy to parrot the president's characterization of the caravan. But a few prominent pundits haven't been playing along. On Sunday, Bill Kristol condemned "Fox News and parts of … right-wing media" for "their coverage of the caravan and the dangers of these immigrants" and for being "obsessed" with George Soros. And here's Fox's Shep Smith:

QUICK HITS

• Many who are anti-"political correctness" are also pro-censorship:

• WordPress becomes the next target of folks who think they can actually police all online speech.

• Howard Dean suggested that Gab "should be tried for being an accomplice to murder" because synagogue shooter Robert Bowers posted there.

• Protecting and serving:

• From TechCrunch:

A U.S. government network was infected with malware thanks to one employee's "extensive history" of watching porn on his work computer, investigators have found

• "We have now reached the point where tech is one of the worst covered subject areas by the U.S. and also British media," suggests economist Tyler Cowen.

• Are we in a new era of political violence? Katherine Mangu-Ward, Peter Suderman, and Nick Gillespie discuss.

• Drudge lashes out at Fox: