The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on Tuesday blasted President Trump, calling his plan to end birthright citizenship “blatantly unconstitutional.”
“This is a blatantly unconstitutional attempt to fan the flames of anti-immigrant hatred in the days ahead of the midterms,” the ACLU said in a statement on Twitter.
“The 14th Amendment’s citizenship guarantee is clear. You can’t erase the Constitution with an executive order, @realDonaldTrump,” the group concluded
The forceful statement from the organization came just hours after Axios detailed Trump’s comments on birthright citizenship.
{mosads}In an interview with the news outlet, Trump said he planned to end the right to citizenship for children born in the U.S. to noncitizens, claiming that “you don’t” need a constitutional amendment to take such a step.
“You can definitely do it with an act of Congress,” Trump said in the interview, which is set to air in full on Nov. 4. “But now they’re saying I can do it just with an executive order.”
{mosads}The decision to end birthright citizenship could lead to a legal fight before the Supreme Court over the 14th Amendment. The amendment states that all persons “born or naturalized in the United States” are “citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”
Trump’s comments have been met with swift backlash from Democratic and GOP lawmakers.
Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-Fla.) tweeted early Tuesday that “Birthright citizenship is protected by the Constitution, so no @realDonaldTrump you can’t end it by executive order.”
“What we really need is broad immigration reform that makes our country more secure and reaffirms our wonderful tradition as a nation of immigrants,” he added.
Trump has stepped up his rhetoric on immigration as the midterm elections near. On Monday, he referred to the thousands of migrants traveling to the U.S. to flee violence in Central America as an “invasion.”