President Trump says he is considering an executive order ending birthright citizenship.

President Donald Trump. The Hill. 

President Trump has said he is considering an executive order ending birthright citizenship. The Hill. Birthright citizenship means that anyone who is born in the United States is a citizen, even illegal aliens. President Trump has mentioned this solution before but it is opposed by some in his party due to the 14th Amendment. Trump said birthright citizenship was on the way out, one way or the other. 

My Comment:

Big news if President Trump actually is able to pull this off. Doing so would be a boon to the United States and would help keep the population of illegal aliens down. Many of them come to the United States specifically to have children as having a US citizen as a child means you can't be deported until that child is 18. If this happens, both the illegal alien and their child could be deported. 

Not only would this executive order reduce the number of illegal aliens coming here as one of their main ways of evading the law would be closed, it would get rid of the motivation for doing so for many of these illegals. 

It would also be a body blow to the Democratic Party. They have to rely on new immigrants to bolster their election chances and getting rid of birthright citizenship would be devastating to them long term. Which means I am sure they will oppose this with whatever they have. Remember, when Democrats complain about the treatment of illegal aliens, what they are really saying is "we need these voters if we are to have any hope of winning national elections".

I do think that there will be some grandfathering in of older citizens. This would probably only apply to new children born to illegals after any executive order. I doubt Trump can or would take anyone's citizenship away. 

All that being said, does this have a realistic chance of happening? I guess it depends on what you mean by that. I do think that President Trump has a chance of doing this. It would be a promise kept to his base and would be extremely popular among them. 

However, I do think that the Democrats and their allies in the media would do whatever they could to make the order moot. Like I said, these are future Democrat voters and they are completely dependent on them. Banning birthright citizenship would be opposed by the Democrats for no other reason. They will use the courts and any other weapon at their disposal to stop Trump's executive order at all costs. 

As for me, I always thought birthright citizenship was a joke. Most countries do not have it and there is no reason why someone in the country illegally should be allowed to have children that are citizens here. Getting rid of it would be a massive victory to people who are actually native born and not citizenship tourists.