Will Trump be able to abolish birthright citizenship? The 14th amendment has been safeguarded in the US constitution since 1868.

Donald Trump wants to get rid of 14th Amendment birthright protections as a way to crack down on the migrant crisis in the U.S.

The president-elect suggested a potential need for a constitutional overhaul to eliminate the amendment granting U.S. citizenship to individuals born in the United States.

‘Can you get around the 14th Amendment with an executive action?’ NBC host Kristen Welker asked Trump in an interview that aired Sunday.

‘Well, we’re going to have to get it changed,’ he said. ‘We’ll maybe have to go back to the people. But we have to end it.’

‘We’re the only country that has it, you know,’ Trump added.

In his initial interview post-re-election, Trump expressed his desire to abolish birthright citizenship during his first presidential term, which was impeded by the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020, halting all progress in his final year in office.

Trump aims to remove this constitutional provision to specifically address undocumented immigrants who give birth in the U.S. while residing in the country without legal documentation or citizenship status.

The way this could happen is by Trump proclaiming the new policy and then ordering agencies to cease issuing citizenship confirming documents – such as Social Security cards and passports – to children born in the U.S. to undocumented parents.

The legal legitimacy of Trump’s proposal is likely to end up before the Supreme Court, which has a nine to three conservative majority and a whopping three Justices that were nominated by the past and future president.

‘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,’ the 14th Amendment states.

Welker, when reciting the constitutional amendment in her interview with Trump, left out a vital part of the provision, saying: ‘The 14th Amendment, though, says that, quote, ‘All persons born in the United States are citizens.’

Republican Utah Sen. Mike Lee made note of the omission.

‘Those words matter,’ he said of the omitted ‘and subject to the jurisdiction thereof’ part of the 14th Amendment’s text.

This phrase from the Constitution means that all those born in the U.S. are considered citizens of the country, but excludes those who are not under legal authority of the nation at the time time of birth.

Specifically, this is interpreted to mean children of foreign diplomats who are stationed in the U.S. at the time of their childrens’ birth and those whose parents owe allegiance to another nation when they are born.

Trump, and immigration hawks, say that this also applies to those born to illegal immigrants who were living in the country without documentation at the time of giving birth.

‘You know we’re the only country that has it,’ Trump told Welker in the interview that aired Sunday on Meet the Press. ‘Do you know if somebody sets a foot, just a foot, one foot, you don’t need two, on our land, ‘Congratulations you are now a citizen of the United States of America.’ 

‘Yes, we’re going to end that because it’s ridiculous,’ he insisted.

Trump vowed he would address the migrant crisis immediately after taking office, and says he will carry out the largest deportation effort in U.S. history.

The president-elect’s transition team has already been in talks with third-party countries to strike a deal on accepting deported immigrants whose home countries will not accept them back after they left and illegally came into the U.S.