On Tuesday, Axios reported that President Donald Trump wants to issue an executive order ending birthright, or "jus soli" citizenship — the standard that being born on U.S. soil grants automatic citizenship even if your parents are not citizens.
Trump has no power to do this. The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution unambiguously states that "All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States." The amendment, passed in 1868, was mainly intended to grant full rights to former slaves, but it was widely understood at the the time that it would also apply to the children of migrant parents — and indeed, many xenophobic senators at the time voted against the amendment because it did so. The Supreme Court affirmed the 14th Amendment's reach in 1898 with United States v. Wong Kim Ark.
Social media quickly exploded at Trump's remarks, condemning him for both his reckless abandonment of the Constitution and his apparent intent to distract his base from bad press:
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