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What is an American other than someone born here or who immigrated and was subsequently naturalized?
Not so fast. Maybe not.
According to President Trump, birth in the United States does not automatically make someone a citizen of the United States, if their parents were here temporarily or illegally at the time of birth.
The Supreme Court will soon decide. Remember Roe v. Wade which for 50 years we thought was settled constitutional law?
And then it wasn’t.
Like abortion, so too is birthright citizenship in peril with this conservative Supreme Court.
As with abortion, the court could very well be inclined to end birthright. Trump argues that the 14th amendment was written to benefit only former slaves in the context of the Civil War, not future tourists, and certainly not undocumented immigrants.
He argues that the court was wrong in its 19th century decision granting birthright citizenship, which must be re-imagined.
The impact of so draconian a decision will be profound and affect untold millions who were or will be born here, if their parents were only here temporarily or unlawfully at the time of birth. The very definition of who is an American citizen is at risk. It lies in the hands of a Supreme Court that seems inclined to expand presidential powers and limit constitutional rights.
Birthright citizenship hangs in the balance.
More articles by Geraldo Rivera.
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