Trump to put an end to birthright citizenship in U.S

US President, Donald Trump has said he will seek to end the right of citizenship to children born in the United States to non-citizens and illegal immigrants in his latest bid to dramatically reshape immigration policies as he seeks to shore up Republicans ahead of next week’s congressional elections. 

Trump would target the citizenship right through an executive order, he told Axios in an interview published on Tuesday, a move that would prompt a legal fight. The right of U.S. citizenship is granted to U.S.-born children under the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, which cannot be changed by the president.

It was unclear what specific action his order would pursue, and Trump gave no details.

This is blatantly unconstitutional, Omar Jadwat, head of the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project told Reuters. The president obviously cannot overturn the Constitution by executive order. The notion that he would even try is absurd.

Changing an amendment in the Constitution would require the support of two-thirds of the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate and the backing of three-fourths of U.S. state legislatures at a constitutional convention.

But Trump said he has talked to his legal counsel and was advised he could enact the change on his own. Asked about the dispute over such presidential powers, Trump said stood by his comments.

It’s in the process. It’ll happen, he told Axios in the interview, which will air in full on the HBO pay cable channel on Sunday.

Some conservatives have long pushed for an end to the guarantee of birthright citizenship, a view Trump echoed.

It’s ridiculous. It’s ridiculous. And it has to end, Trump told Axios.

Trump, whose hard-line immigration stance helped him win the White House, has seized on the issue in recent weeks in the run-up to the Nov. 6 vote that has Americans sharply divided and grappling with race and national identity.

(Reuters)