President Donald Trump said he expects that at least five U.S. Supreme Court justices will agree with his argument that the constitutional amendment on birthright citizenship was meant solely to safeguard the rights of slaves, not "the whole world."
On his first day in office, Trump issued an executive order ending birthright citizenship for children born to immigrants who are in the United States without authorization, with a federal judge blocking the order shortly thereafter.
But on Thursday, Trump said he expects the Supreme Court will side with him, and that he'll win his case, reports USA Today.
According to the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, approved in 1868, "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside."
But Trump said that the amendment was meant for the children of former slaves, which made it "good and noble," but added that it does not apply to immigrants.
"This was not meant for the whole world to come in and pile into the United States of America, everybody coming in, and totally unqualified people and with perhaps unqualified children," he said. "This wasn't meant for that."
U.S. District Judge John Coughenour in Seattle said Trump's order, though, was "blatantly unconstitutional."
"Frankly, I have difficulty understanding how a member of the bar would state unequivocally that this is a constitutional order. It just boggles my mind," Coughenour told Trump's lawyers last week while blocking the order, reports The New York Times.
Trump's order declares that children who are born in the United States to undocumented immigrants after Feb. 19 would no longer be considered U.S. citizens. The order extends to babies born to mothers who are also in the United States temporarily but legally, such as university students, tourists, or temporary workers, if the father is also not a citizen.
Activist groups, expectant mothers, and 22 states have filed six lawsuits to stop the executive order.
According to legal precedent, the amendment has long been interpreted to include all babies born in the United States, with the exceptions of those born to accredited foreign diplomats, noncitizens on U.S. territory occupied by an invading army, and for a while, children who were born to Native Americans on reservations.
Federal government lawyer Brett Shumate, meanwhile, argued that Trump's order on birthright citizenship is "absolutely" constitutional.
He said that undocumented immigrants "remain subject to a foreign power" and have "No allegiance to the United States, and neither would their children if born in the United States."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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