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Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship

whitehouse.gov

30 points by laristine a year ago · 36 comments

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wumeow a year ago

> Subsection (a) of this section shall apply only to persons who are born within the United States after 30 days from the date of this order.

Well, at least they aren't trying to enforce this retroactively.

declan_roberts a year ago

Birthright citizenship is one of those things that I thought was with us since the beginning. Turns out I was wrong.

  • jeffbee a year ago

    It basically was. The common law doctrine of citizenship by birth prevailed from the founding up to Dred Scott.

    The reason it is uncommon worldwide is because nobody practices common law outside of the Anglophone former colonies and England itself. England had absolute birthright citizenship right up until Thatcher

    • CalChris a year ago

      Yep, jus soli. And Dred Scott overruled that for blacks. And (after the Civil War which was about slavery) the 14th Amendment overturned Dred Scott with birthright citizenship.

  • zephyrus1985 a year ago

    I believe it now doesn't apply for to parents that are here illegally. Not taking sides but just pointing the nuance

    • gnulinux a year ago

      Did you read the executive order? It clearly states it also covers parents that are here legally through visas like H, F etc... It is not just about illegal immigration. E.g. if you work in the US on H and have a kid with a student on F visa, the kid will not be a US citizen going forward (starting in 30 days).

      I'd be curious to hear the argument that people legally working or studying here aren't "subject to jurisdiction" of. People on H1B for a while file the exact same taxes citizens file (because they're US persons for tax purposes). Not sure how are they legally not subject to jurisdiction of?

      • laristineOP a year ago

        In any angle of view, those people are clearly subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.

        • cherry_tree a year ago

          From the text:

          >or (2) when that person’s mother’s presence in the United States at the time of said person’s birth was lawful but temporary (such as, but not limited to, visiting the United States under the auspices of the Visa Waiver Program or visiting on a student, work, or tourist visa) and the father was not a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident at the time of said person’s birth.

          It specifically says the child of someone here on a work visa would not be a citizen. If that person became a citizen or permanent resident after the child’s birth, the child would need to pursue residency/citizenship through their own merit as a non-citizen.

          What visa is given to non citizens born while in the US I wonder?

      • alanfranz a year ago

        Not a US citizen here so I may miss some nuances.

        I’d think the “tourist VISA” part makes sense after all.

        The “work VISA” part is strange, as you say. If I’m on a 15 days business trip, could make sense. If on a multi-year H1B… well, it sucks.

        • hmm37 a year ago

          The definition of jurisdiction matters a lot here. But it's hard to explain why it would be that if someone who is here legal or illegal in the US, commits a crime is not subject to the jurisdiction of the US, and therefore should simply go free and be deported as if they were simply a diplomat, with diplomatic immunity...

          There's many cases as well like the Gitmo cases that explain what "jurisdiction" means, and it doesn't even simply mean whether or not you are on US soil, but can be subjected to US laws, even when overseas.

        • declan_roberts a year ago

          I had a coworker that actually did this unapologetically ("it's your system, your laws")

          Wife came here very pregnant, overstayed her travel visa, had her baby and their child is a US citizen.

          He's a green card holder now, but he was genuinely just thinking about his kid's future.

      • mhx1138 a year ago

        This will surely dissuade people from coming to work on work visa. It’s a big step to relocate your carrier to another country. If there is no perspective to fully commit and plan proper migration, then there is less motivation to even go in the first place.

      • TimK65 a year ago

        I believe that historically, the primary group of people who are "not subject to the jurisdiction of the United States" are diplomatic personnel from other countries. Those people actually are not subject to U.S. jurisdiction.

  • aliasxneo a year ago

    How would the country work without it? Thousands of non-citizens would be added to the country on a daily basis.

  • legitster a year ago

    Establishing citizenship was less important when the US had open borders, which it more or less did for most of its existence.

insane_dreamer a year ago

Isn't this something Congress would have to pass a law on? EO's can be overturned by the next President.

  • verdverm a year ago

    The 14th Amendment is already the law. SCOTUS has previously ruled that the exception to birthright are quite narrow. This EO is all about getting the case back to SCOTUS so they can change a previous ruling.

    Legal Eagle has a good rundown of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knH3v5aEe_g

mcphage a year ago

What garbage, what absolute filth. What an embarrassment to our nation.

daft_pink a year ago

Pretty sure the courts are going to strike this one down. Like Biden’s FTC, Trump’s immigration proclamations are going to go nowhere fast.

laristineOP a year ago

Trump issued an executive order ending birthright citizenship in America.

  • verdverm a year ago

    Expect this to go all the way to SCOTUS. I would imagine multiple lower courts will rule on it in the near-term, probably with injunctions and such. Multiple lawsuits challenging it have already been prepared and will be filed shortly

    Certainly reminiscent of Bannon's shock and awe strategy from '16

  • rvz a year ago

    False. I would have agreed with you if this order also included ending it also for all "US Citizens" and "lawful permanent residents", but it does not.

    Read it again and you can clearly see that it is for those who are *not born to permanent "US citizens" or "lawful permanent residents"*.

    >>> (c) Nothing in this order shall be construed to affect the entitlement of other individuals, including children of lawful permanent residents, to obtain documentation of their United States citizenship.

    • insane_dreamer a year ago

      it's still ending _birthright_ citizenship; if you're born to US citizens (wherever you may be born) you get citizenship through your parents, not birthright.

      • rvz a year ago

        > it's still ending _birthright_ citizenship;

        The important distinction is that this order is only for:

        >>> those who are NOT born to permanent "US citizens" or "lawful permanent residents".

        This order does NOT affect children born IN the US to US citizens or "lawful permanent residents" while the OP suggested that this order was "ending birthright citizenship in America" which that is totally false, otherwise it would have included everyone including US citizens or permanent residents, but it does not.

        Only for those who are NOT born to permanent "US citizens" or "lawful permanent residents".

ryan_lane a year ago

Every Trump related post today is being flagged. Where's the editorial oversight here, @dang?

  • dang a year ago

    HN isn't a current affairs site, so users tend to flag most of the hottest stories-of-the-day. That's expected and desirable.

    Is there a specific submission that you feel should be getting a discussion on HN? Keep in mind that the mandate here is thoughtful conversation about stories that gratify intellectual curiosity (https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html).

blackeyeblitzar a year ago

Very few countries have birthright citizenship (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jus_soli). I still find it to be a strange concept. It seems like in the US, birthright citizenship isn’t granted in the constitution or laws directly but was the result of a court ruling, which is extra strange. I’m not sure if this is the right way to go about it, but I think removing it is the right direction to have a sense of sovereignty and make citizenship meaningful.

  • motorest a year ago

    > Very few countries have birthright citizenship

    Very few countries have a huge statue at the entrance of a major port with a big bronze plaque bearing the message "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free (...)".

  • jeffbee a year ago

    The 14th Amendment was a direct rebuttal of a court case: Dred Scott v. Sandford. Dred Scott ruled that Black people could not be citizens, because they were property not people, including a "free negro" because they descended from property. The Citizenship Clause intentionally rebuts the ruling. There is no other way to interpret the Clause.

  • laristineOP a year ago

    The United States has a lot of unique traits that few other countries have (American exceptionalism), birthright citizenship being just one characteristic. I'd think an executive order is just testing the water, but to change it definitively requires a constitutional amendment.

    • jfengel a year ago

      Or a Supreme Court to interpret the Constitution however they'd like it to be.

  • ttyprintk a year ago

    It’s most of the Americas; 3 dozen or so in total. Saying “very few” is cover for Trump to lie that it’s “only one”.

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