Daily Digest Online

U.S. President Donald Trump has defended his executive order to end automatic citizenship for children born in the United States to non-citizen parents, asserting the constitutional provision was historically intended for the children of enslaved people, not for "wealthy foreigners." In an interview, Trump stated that the legal basis for birthright citizenship "had everything to do with the babies of slaves" following the Civil War. "That case was not meant for some rich person coming from another country … and all of a sudden their whole family becomes United States citizens," he argued. The 14th Amendment and Legal Challenge The policy hinges on the interpretation of the 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868, which states that all persons "born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens." It was originally adopted to guarantee citizenship for formerly enslaved Africa...