President Donald Trump is yet again in the headlines with his insouciant remarks as the newspapers typecast them. Mr. Trump is intending at the abolition of the Birthright Citizenship in the U.S.A. This right of citizenship is conferred on the persons in the U.S. by Section 1 of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the U.S.A. He aims at the abolition through the executive order as per the advice by his ministers if not through an amendment to the Constitution itself.
Emergence of the Right and the Current Issue
The Birthright Citizenship emerged after the case of Dred Scott v. Sandford, 1857 in which the right of slaves was diminshed and just after that as a response to the judgement the 14th Amendment was made to the Constitution which recognised the right of the slaves. This amendment regards Jus Soli (right of the soil) as the right of citizenship Since then, any and every baby born in America irrespective of the status of its parents is regarded as an American citizen and gets the rights of a full-fledged citizen for 85 years. The relevant section reads as- "All persons born or naturalised in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the states wherein they reside". This law was last upheld by the Supreme Court in the case of United States v. Wong Kim Ark, 1897 where a baby born out of Chinese parents was decided by the Supreme Court to be an American citizenship.
Trump regards this right as "ridiculous". For Trump, none of the "anchor babies" should be allowed to become the citizen of America. Anchor babies are those children born in the United States to a foreign national mother that unlawfully resided in the United States at the time of the child's birth. Trump continues to use this term to portray the urgency of his immigration concerns and to abolish the law of Birthright Citizenship. It seems unlikely to many ministers in the Congress that such an abolition is plausible.
The Practicality of the Abolition
The abolition of the birthright citizenship would draw flak from almost all sections of society for Trump and would justify his so-called cynical actions and behaviour. Regardless of that, on a personal note, such a policy should be abolished since it allows umpteen immigrants to become citizens of America just because they were born in America. Already, America is the country having the largest number of immigrants [Immigration Report 2017- UN] and if this right continues for another decade or so, it will lead to exploitation of America's resources and snatch American citizens' employment.
Moreover, I support the abolition on the basis of the study of laws in India. Surprisingly, India follows jus sanguinis (citizenship by right of blood) and not jus soli. In India, just for the fact that you are born in India does not make you a citizen; either of the parents should be a citizen of India and only then your birth would account for your citizenship. India does not follow the principle of jus soli and it is wise enough because of the geographical centricity of India and the porous borders with the neighbouring countries. In the same breath, even United States disregard jus soli either by a change in the interpretation of the clause 'subject to the jurisdiction thereof' in the 14th Amendment or an express amendment to the Amendment itself.
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