The Donald has signed an executive order ending what is known as “birthright citizenship.”
It’s usually seen as a major provision of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution which has been interpreted to mean if you are born in this country you are a citizen. It does not matter whether your parents are citizens or not.
The Donald and his minions are attacking it because they don’t like it when people who are here either illegally or undocumented—yes, there is a difference—have a child here who is a U.S. citizen. They want to be able to throw the baby out with the parents.
It’s an interesting concept because if you take that principle out to its logical extreme, few Americans would qualify as citizens because our ancestors came here from other countries, and many, if not most, came before the 1924 law establishing quotas and requiring visas. Of course, just because you are here legally, does not mean your children become citizens just because they’re born here. Not under Trump’s belief if you are not a citizen.
I guess most of us will have to go back to our ancestors’ countries of origin. That could be problematic for people whose ancestors came from multiple countries. Take The Donald, for example. He can choose between either Germany or Scotland. Will one of them take him?
The only people who are here legally are naturalized citizens who became citizens under U.S. law and Native Americans. Of course, that all depends on whether the U.S. Supreme Court upholds the legality of naturalization. If it does, perhaps the rest of us can be naturalized? If it doesn’t, well goodbye to all those folks too.
As for Native Americans, their problem may be that, according to paleontologists, their ancestors immigrated from Asia. Would that disqualify them as citizens?
So if the Supreme Court sides with The Donald, I wonder if he’ll turn the lights out when he boards Air Force 0 to leave?
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