President Donald Trump has vigorously defended his administration’s executive order aimed at eliminating automatic citizenship for children born on American soil, arguing that the 14th Amendment was originally intended solely for the descendants of slaves, not for “wealthy foreigners.”
The directive, signed on his first day back in the White House in January 2025, sought to unilaterally end the guarantee of birthright citizenship, a bedrock principle of U.S. law for over 150 years.
In comments made to Politico, Mr. Trump asserted that the constitutional foundation for birthright citizenship “had everything to do with the babies of slaves,” tracing its origin back to the Civil War era. The 14th Amendment, adopted in 1868, famously states that “all persons born or naturalised in the United States… are citizens of the United States.”
The President distinguished this historical context from current practice, stressing: “That case was not meant for some rich person coming from another country… and all of a sudden their whole family becomes United States citizens.”
The controversial executive order—which initially faced federal court injunctions—was partially cleared for judicial review by the Supreme Court in June, setting the stage for a major constitutional showdown. The Trump administration justifies the move on economic grounds, with the President arguing the U.S. “cannot afford to house tens of millions of people.” He warned that a Supreme Court ruling against his executive order would be “devastating.”
The forthcoming Supreme Court arguments will determine the fate of the executive order and carry immense implications for U.S. immigration policy and the fundamental interpretation of citizenship.
