If President Donald Trump succeeds in abolishing birthright citizenship for illegal immigrants and other noncitizens, he would end a practice that has been used by potentially millions of foreign nationals in recent years.
By 2023, 250,000 babies will be born to illegal immigrant parents. According to Recently updated estimates from the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS). To put that number in perspective, that number exceeded the birth rate of most states and accounted for nearly 7 percent of the country's births that year.
“U.S. citizenship is the most valuable status in the entire world because it gives you a passport, the protection of the U.S. government, and the ability to vote,” Art Arthur, a resident researcher at CIS, told the Daily. told the caller. News Foundation. “So as the population of undocumented people increases, especially couples, we end up in a situation where this problem becomes more and more pronounced.” (Watch The Daily Caller's documentary “Cartelville”)
“And perhaps the best way to say this is to salute the Trump administration for actually forcing the issue to get a solution,” Arthur said.
U.S. President Donald Trump signs an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on January 20, 2025. (Photo by Jim WATSON/POOL/AFP) (Photo by JIM WATSON/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Hours after taking office, President Trump presidential order Following through on a promise he repeatedly made during his campaign, he would eliminate the birthright citizenship guarantee for individuals born to parents who are in the United States illegally or on temporary visas. It took less than a day for Democrats and other liberal groups to object to the move, and for the ACLU and a coalition of state attorneys general to file a lawsuit seeking to block the order.
A federal judge has since put the order on hold, and legal experts agree the battle will likely end up in the hands of Supreme Court justices.
Regardless of the ruling, the outcome will have a major impact on the millions of people born in this country each year and the millions of foreign nationals who seek to enter the country to give birth on American soil. Dew. (Related: Top Democrat admits courts will end up denying most immigrants' asylum claims)
It is estimated that 250,000 children will be born to illegal immigrant parents in 2023, indicating that this practice is on the rise. in lawsuit In opposing the executive order, the plaintiffs cited a report from the National Vital Statistics Corporation that estimates that in 2022, 153,000 children across the United States will be born to parents without legal immigrant status.
The lawsuit also cites a 2014 CIS investigation that found more than 125,000 children born to illegal immigrant mothers in 2014 in the plaintiff states alone.
Birthright citizenship for illegal aliens costs U.S. taxpayers billions of dollars each year. Another report found that in 2014 alone, approximately $2.3 billion in government funds was spent on children born to illegal immigrant parents. CIS research It concluded that in 2015, nearly 87% of undocumented immigrant households with children used at least one welfare program.
President Trump's order would strip birthright citizenship not only from people born to illegal immigrant parents, but also from many people born to parents who are visiting the country on temporary visas. The executive order seeks to prevent individuals born in the United States from obtaining citizenship if at least one parent is not a lawful permanent resident or citizen. According to white house.
The lawful permanent residence provisions are aimed at addressing maternity tourism. tens of thousands Every year, babies are born to foreign nationals who entered the country legally on temporary visas with the sole purpose of giving birth on U.S. soil and reaping the benefits of having an American child.
SAN LUIS, ARIZONA – MAY 21: With the U.S.-Mexico border wall in the background, a pregnant Haitian immigrant crossing from Mexico is helped by her partner (L) and another immigrant during labor ( May 21, 2022) in San Luis, Arizona. (Photo courtesy of Mario Tama/Getty Images)
U.S. authorities have uncovered a business scheme that revolves entirely around providing and facilitating services to non-citizens who wish to give birth on U.S. soil. Foreigners who can afford it can repeatedly take advantage of childbirth tourism.
“There was a case involving a woman who was a citizen of a country far away from San Francisco, California, and she flew to San Francisco every time she was about eight months pregnant,” said Arthur, a former trial attorney. he told DCNF. “She gave birth at Charity Hospital, stayed there for two weeks to a month postpartum, and then went to the State Department offices on Market Street in San Francisco.”
“She got a passport, got on a plane and went home, and when the INS arrived, [the former Immigration and Naturalization Service] I stopped her, she had done this four times,” Arthur said. “You know, it’s an abuse of the system.”
Despite rampant abuses by both illegal immigrants and birth tourists, many Democrats are working hard with the Trump administration to continue granting birthright citizenship to nearly everyone born on U.S. soil. US law makes an exception for babies born to foreign nationals – diplomats.
The lawsuit, led by 22 state attorneys general, was put on hold by U.S. District Judge John Cogner, a President Reagan appointee, after a hearing Thursday.
This fight focuses entirely on the first sentence of the first clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, which grants citizenship to formerly enslaved people. This article states as follows: and the state in which they live. ” The expression “subject to its jurisdiction” has given rise to various interpretations of birthright citizenship over the years.
The Trump administration clarified that the meaning of the phrase under the 14th Amendment pertains only to U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents, not to those born on U.S. soil. He claims that he is trying to do so.
Democrats are seeking to block the order, but the White House has signaled it is willing to take the case all the way to the nation's highest court.
“The Department of Justice will vigorously defend President Trump's EO, which correctly interprets the 14th Amendment. We look forward to presenting a full argument on the merits. [Supreme] Courts and the American people who desperately want our laws to be enforced,” a Justice Department spokesperson previously told the Daily Caller.
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