WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court agreed this week to decide on the constitutionality of President Donald Trump’s executive order on birthright citizenship. The executive order declared that U.S.-born children of illegal or temporary status immigrants are not American citizens.
“The Fourteenth Amendment’s Citizenship Clause was adopted to grant citizenship to newly freed slaves and their children — not ... to the children of aliens illegally or temporarily in the United States,” top administration Supreme Court lawyer, D. John Sauer, wrote in urging the high court’s review.
The executive order has yet to take effect in the country.
Earlier this year, the Trump administration filed an appeal with the Supreme Court after lower courts struck down the order.
“Their case amounts to little more than a jumble of historical misstatements, inapposite citations, newly manufactured doctrines, and – more than anything else – policy preferences,” the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups representing the individual plaintiffs told the Supreme Court this year.
The birthright citizenship order is one of the administration’s many attempts to crack down on immigration in the U.S. President Trump signed it on the first day of his second term. Other examples include surges in ICE agents across the nation. Additionally, the first peacetime invocation of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 occurred.
The act allows the president to arrest and deport foreign nationals of an “enemy nation.”
Since the beginning of his second term, Trump has faced a variety of court challenges. In that time, the Supreme Court has shown inconsistent views on the emergency orders issued by the Chief Executive.
The justices have stopped the use of the Alien Enemies Act. This act was used to effectively remove suspected Venezuelan gang members without the use of due process. Simultaneously, the Supreme Court has allowed the continued presence of immigration enforcement crackdowns in the Los Angeles area. Lower courts had previously attempted to block ICE agents from stopping people based on their race, language, job, or location.
The justices are additionally reviewing Trump’s emergency request to deploy the National Guard in the Chicago area. This deployment is to enhance immigration enforcement action. Lower courts previously also prevented the request.
