In an interview with Axios Monday night, President Trump said he was considering the end of birthright citizenship through an executive order.
Trump declares he can end birthright citizenship with an executive order: "It was always told to me that you needed a constitutional amendment. Guess what? You don't." pic.twitter.com/CAK07Kt11D
— Axios (@axios) October 30, 2018
The news came to a surprise to some, but President Trump campaign on the issue back in 2016.
Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee Chuck Grassley, who has been working on illegal immigration and visa issues for years, is weighing in.
“The United States welcomes immigrants from all over the world who pursue the legal options available to them to seek permanent residence or citizenship in our country. Birthright citizenship for the children of permanent resident immigrants under the Fourteenth Amendment is settled law, as decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in United States v. Wong Kim Ark," Grassley released in a statement Tuesday afternoon. "There is a debate among legal scholars about whether that right extends to the children of illegal immigrants. I will closely review President Trump’s executive order. As a general matter, this is an issue that Congress should take the lead to carefully consider and debate.”
House Speaker Paul Ryan said earlier today during a radio interview hat the President does not have the authority to end birthright citizenship through an executive order and must go through Congress.
"As a conservative, I’m a believer in following the plain text of the Constitution, and I think in this case the 14th Amendment is pretty clear, and that would involve a very, very lengthy constitutional process. But where we obviously totally agree with the president is getting at the root issue here, which is unchecked illegal immigration,” Ryan said.