Trump moves to restrict birthright citizenship
Translated from Icelandic, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.
At a glance
- U.S. President Donald Trump signed two executive orders aimed at restricting birthright citizenship for children born in the U.S. to non-citizens.
- The orders target
President Donald Trump has signed two executive orders designed to limit birthright citizenship for children born in the United States to non-citizens. The orders specifically target individuals engaging in "birth tourism" for profit, a practice Trump has long criticized.
One order outlines specific groups ineligible for automatic citizenship at birth. This includes children born to parents involved in "arranging for the mother to be present in the United States or its territories for the purpose of giving birth." It also lists children of foreign government officials or those associated with terrorist groups. However, the order does not apply if one of the parents is a U.S. citizen.
The concept of people coming in and pretending to be tourists, pretending to be visitors, saying that they want to visit Disneyland or visit monuments or visit national parks, but the real reason they are here is to have a baby, to make that baby a citizen automatically, leave our country, and then have a baby that is a U.S. citizen. That gives them access, under this broken system, to welfare benefits, to eventually the voting booth, and to all of the other rights and privileges that belong to Americans exclusively.
"The concept of people coming in and pretending to be tourists, pretending to be visitors, saying that they want to visit Disneyland or visit monuments or visit national parks, but the real reason they are here is to have a baby, to make that baby a citizen automatically, leave our country, and then have a baby that is a U.S. citizen," said Stephen Miller, Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy, during the signing. "That gives them access, under this broken system, to welfare benefits, to eventually the voting booth, and to all of the other rights and privileges that belong to Americans exclusively."
This move follows a recent Supreme Court decision that invalidated a previous Trump executive order attempting to end automatic birthright citizenship. "We had a very unfortunate Supreme Court decision on birthright, it was very close," Trump commented at the signing. The 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution states that all persons born or naturalized in the United States are citizens.
We had a very unfortunate Supreme Court decision on birthright, it was very close.
Originally published by Morgunblaรฐiรฐ in Icelandic. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.