(The Center Square) – Nevada’s senators are disregarding President Donald Trump’s attempt to end birthright citizenship by executive order.
On Trump’s first day in office, he signed the “Protect the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship Executive Order,” which says that the Constitution’s 14th Amendment has not been interpreted to give citizenship “universally to everyone in the United States.”
“The Fourteenth Amendment has always excluded from birthright citizenship persons who were born in the United States but not ‘subject to the jurisdiction thereof.’ Consistent with this understanding, the Congress has further specified through legislation that ‘a person born in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof’ is a national and citizen of the United States at birth,” the executive order says.
According to the executive order, American citizenship will not be given if a baby’s mother is illegally in the U.S. or the father is not an American citizen or lawful permanent resident.
The Department of Homeland Security defines a lawful permanent resident as a non-citizen “lawfully authorized to live permanently within the United States.”
The executive order also says American citizenship will be withheld if the baby’s mother at the time of the birth was in America lawfully but temporarily under the Visa Waiver Program or using a student work or tourist visa. Additionally, citizenship will be denied if the baby’s father is not an American citizen or a lawful permanent resident.
Trump’s new executive order only applies to “persons who are born within the United States after 30 days from the date of this order.”
U.S. Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., said that Trump’s executive order violates the Constitution.
“The Constitution is clear: if you are born in the United States, you are an American citizen,” said Rosen. “Donald Trump’s attempt to take Americans’ birthright citizenship away is extreme, unconstitutional, and illegal.
“I will do everything in my power to protect Nevadans’ Constitutional rights,” she added.
Sen. Cortez Masto, D-Nev., said on X that Trump can’t “rewrite” America’s Constitution.
“If you are born in this country, you’re a citizen,” she said.
Center for Immigration Studies found that about 400,000 babies whose parents are not American citizens are born annually in the country.
Estimates are that about 300,000 of these infants were born to illegal immigrants.
Another 72,000 of these babies were born to foreign students, guest workers, long-term temporary visa holders or tourists.