President-elect Donald Trump has built his political career on a hardline stance against immigration, focusing on issues such as constructing a wall between the United States and Mexico and conducting mass deportations of those who are in the U.S. illegally. In a recent interview, he doubled down on his plans and went even further, suggesting that even U.S. citizens could be deported as part of his immigration sweep.
Mass deportation and ending birthright citizenship
During an interview with Meet the Press host Kristen Welker, Trump repeated his goal to implement mass deportations, “starting with the criminals” but then extending beyond those who have committed crimes. Trump also indicated that people legally in the United States might also be sent out of the country.
Speaking of mixed legal status families, Trump said, “I don’t want to be breaking up families. So the only way you don’t break up the family is you keep them together, and you have to send them all back.”
He later qualified that these families might be given a choice, stating, “The person that came in illegally can go out, or they can all go out together.” He also mentioned that he would work with Democrats to make some allowances for Dreamers — those who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children — to stay in the country. But Trump also indicated that he would seek to use executive action to end birthright citizenship, by which people born in the United States are automatically citizens.
President Donald Trump joins Meet The Press to discuss The Border, Deportations and Dreamers. pic.twitter.com/CyabZUvMUX
— Dusty (@thatdudedusty) December 8, 2024
Plan flies in the face of the 14th Amendment
The pledge to end birthright citizenship by executive action is a radical suggestion that would go against the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. One of the amendments enacted after the Civil War, the 14th Amendment, begins, “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.” Originally guaranteeing that formerly enslaved people would be recognized as citizens, this provision has consistently been used to guarantee citizenship to anyone born in the U.S., regardless of their parents’ citizenship status. While Trump suggested he could end birthright citizenship with an executive order, experts and even members of his party have generally held that only a constitutional amendment could change the policy. Passing an amendment would require two-thirds of the House of Representatives and the Senate to vote for such a proposal and for it to then be ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of all states; gaining such support would be very difficult.
Deporting legal residents and citizens?
Trump’s suggestion of deporting mixed-status families implies that legal residents or even citizens could be included in his campaign of mass deportation. The Center for Migration Studies reports approximately 4.7 million households in the U.S. with mixed immigration statuses. If Trump deports immigrants lacking permanent legal status, their relatives who are citizens or legal residents might also choose to leave the United States voluntarily. However, Trump and the immigration authorities under his control would generally not be able to compel those legally in the United States to leave. Natural-born citizens cannot be deported, and naturalized citizens — those who were not citizens at birth but obtained their American citizenship legally — can only be deported if they are “denaturalized,” a process that is very rare and typically involves demonstrating fraud or misrepresentation during the naturalization process.
Altogether, Trump’s latest comments on deportation seem to fly in the face of what the law and even the Constitution will allow. It doesn’t mean the Trump administration might not push some of these policies, but officials would have a very high legal hill to climb to make these proposals a reality. Meanwhile, millions in the U.S. lack legal protections and may soon have to worry about their ability to remain in the country.
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