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Friday, March 29
The Indiana Daily Student

opinion

COLUMN: Mr. Trump, leave the 14th Amendment alone

Donald Trump has long promised he will end birthright citizenship in the United States. The morning of Oct. 30, however, he said he will do so by issuing an executive order. In case the implications of this are not apparent, Trump is saying he can change the way the Constitution is read without amending the Constitution itself. 

The 14th Amendment clearly states, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” 

Trump wants to say this is not true, and children born of immigrants in the United States are not citizens, even though they have previously been included in the 14th Amendment. 

Such a drastic reinterpretation of the Constitution most definitely requires a Constitutional amendment. According to Article V of the U.S. Constitution, to amend the Constitution, an amendment needs to be approved by two-thirds of both the House and the Senate, or a constitutional convention must be called by two-thirds of the states. In order to put the amendment into effect in the case of a constitutional convention, three-fourths of the states must ratify it.

For Trump to say that he can change the way the Constitution is read by a mere executive order is a horrendous misstatement of his power. It skips all of the checks and balances that were put in place to avoid a dictatorship. If Trump can essentially amend the Constitution by a simple executive order, what else can he do?

The reality is that his future executive order will probably not be held as law. Legal experts agree it is not possible to so drastically change the reading of the Constitution without an amendment. Even House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin, said, “Well, you obviously cannot do that.” 

Still, even if he cannot amend the Constitution by an executive order, the fact that he thinks he can do it says a lot about his character. This is someone who wants the power of the presidency to be absolute. He wants to be able to make any and every change that comes to his mind without having to consult anyone else. It is extremely scary and worrying to have someone like that at the helm of our country.

Furthermore, the fact that he wants to take away birthright citizenship is abhorrent. The 14th Amendment is what gives people born on U.S. soil the right to citizenship. 

The 14th Amendment was passed in relatively quick succession after the Civil War. It came alongside the 13th Amendment, which outlawed slavery, and the 15th Amendment, which made it illegal to deny any citizen the right to vote "on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude."

The 14th Amendment was specifically passed so that children of slaves, who had not been considered U.S. citizens, would have citizenship. To take away the 14th Amendment would be to ignore its history in the abolition of slavery and the subsequent expansion of the rights of former slaves. 

There are also always people who take the law to the extremes in order to further their bigotry and hatred. Somewhere there will be someone who tries to argue, using Trump’s interpretation of the 14th Amendment, the descendants of slaves are no longer citizens since their great grandparents weren’t. Laws should not be open to these sorts of racist interpretations. 

And what about the grandchildren of undocumented immigrants? People who have their roots in the U.S. and who contribute to their communities will be targeted by this interpretation. People who have been here for a generation would no longer be considered citizens just because of a decision their grandparents made. Someone might say people in such situations can just apply for citizenship. But, becoming a citizen can take decades and cost thousands of dollars

The sudden doubt in people's status as citizens will ruin lives. It will upset the communities where the children and grandchildren of immigrants have grown up and integrated. Good, upstanding people who are here as as fully legal citizens will have a shadow thrown over their life. Not only can Trump not change the interpretation of the Constitution by a simple executive order, but he shouldn’t even try. Nothing is worth the lives that will be ruined. 

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