Trump to terminate birthright citizenship
axios.com
axios.com
"It was always told to me that you needed a constitutional
amendment. Guess what? You don't," Trump said, declaring
he can do it by executive order.
When told that's very much in dispute, Trump replied:
"You can definitely do it with an Act of Congress.
But now they're saying I can do it just with
an executive order."
Someone on Fox News?
The most likely result of this is going to be an object lesson on the limits of executive power.
The debate about executive power is a critical one to have, that's been really brewing for probably about 14-16 years or so I would say just off the top of my head, and isn't limited to this particular issue.
However, this particular debate has to be on the merits. If the fourteenth amendment is found to not protect birthright citizenship, then the President actually does have the power to limit it by executive order. Nearly all immigration functions fall under the executive branch, unless Congress chooses to legislate on the issue -- on this particular issue I can't recall a specific law that addresses it and I suspect that given current leanings in the senate at least it would be very difficult to pass such a law.