Trump tries to bypass birthright citizenship loss with new executive orders

President Trump claimed he could expand the definition of people who are ineligible for birthright citizenship just months after the Supreme Court laid out the limited and “carefully defined” exceptions covered by the 14th Amendment.WASHINGTON (CN) — President Donald Trump signed two new executive orders on Thursday seeking to bypass the Supreme Court’s rejection of his plan to limit birthright citizenship.“We had a very unfortunate decision in the Supreme Court concerning birthright,” Trump said. “It was a close but very, very unfortunate decision. So we’re making adjustments because it’s very unfair.”In June, the Supreme Court threw out Trump’s day one executive order seeking to strip citizenship rights from the children of immigrants without legal status and foreigners participating in “birth tourism.” Ruling 5-4, the high court held that children born in the United States to parents unlawfully or temporarily present in the county are subject to the jurisdiction of the United States and therefore citizens under the 14th Amendment’s citizenship clause.But on Thursday, Trump ignored Chief Justice John Roberts’ declaration that the promise of birthright citizenship extended to “every free-born person in this land.” Instead, Trump claimed the 14th Amendment was only intended to give citizenship to the children of slaves.White House adviser Stephen Miller claimed Trump would exercise his “authority as commander in chief” to expand the definition of people who are ineligible for birthright citizenship and ban “birth tourism” — the apparent practice of visiting a country solely to give birth and gain citizenship rights.“If you’re telling a consular officer you’re here as a tourist, but your true purpose and intent is to go to a baby mill, give birth and try to mint an American citizen while you’re here, then you’re committing fraud against the American government and by definition, that visa can and should and will be denied,” Miller said.To enforce the order, White House staff secretary Will Scharf said the administration would consider denying visas to certain people traveling to the U.S. Scharf also said there would be a law enforcement component of the order.Despite the White House’s assertion that the actions complied with the Supreme Court’s ruling, the orders will likely face legal scrutiny.The ACLU, which successfully challenged Trump’s first attempt to limit birthright citizenship, condemned the latest attack on the right.“The Supreme Court already decided this issue: Birthright citizenship is guaranteed by the Constitution,” Cody Wofsy, deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, said in a statement. “No additional executive order can change the meaning of the Constitution. Any executive order that tries to rewrite birthright citizenship will meet the same fate as the last one.”Roberts’ majority opinion detailed the limited and “carefully defined” exceptions to birthright citizenship, which include the children of diplomats, invading armies and Indian tribes. The court said those special cases followed the common law rule and the ordinary meaning of the 14th Amendment’s text.Roberts explained the Supreme Court previously rejected limits on citizenship rights based on parents’ status over a century ago in United States v. Wong Kim Ark. And he noted the ruling explicitly addressed tourism.“[A]liens who traveled to the United States for ‘business or pleasure’ received no ‘exemption from the jurisdiction of the country,’” Robert wrote. “To the contrary, they were subject to that jurisdiction for as long as they remained here — and any children born to them were American citizens under the 14th Amendment.”Trump previously praised an opinion penned by Justice Brett Kavanaugh in the case, which suggested that Congress could pass a federal statute codifying additional limits on citizenship rights. Kavanaugh, a Trump appointee, did not join the majority opinion, concurring only in the judgment that the executive order would fail under current federal law.Kavanaugh’s opinion — which was not joined by any other justice — provided an easier path to pass such limits because under the majority’s constitutional holding, Trump would need a constitutional amendment to alter the rights guaranteed by the citizenship clause.Following the Supreme Court’s ruling, Trump claimed he would ask the justices to rehear his appeal for a second time. However, the administration failed to file a petition for rehearing by the court’s required deadline.Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads