CITIZENSHIP/ELECTION/IMMIGRATION/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Trump said he was preparing an executive order that would nullify the long-accepted constitutional guarantee of birthright citizenship in the United States, his latest attention-grabbing maneuver days before midterm congressional elections as he has sought to activate his base by vowing to clamp down on immigrants and immigration…In fact, at least 30 other countries, including Canada, Mexico and many others in the Western Hemisphere, grant automatic birthright citizenship, according to a study by the Center for Immigration Studies, an organization that supports restricting immigration and whose work Mr. Trump’s advisers often cite. But Mr. Trump’s plan met with swift pushback from some even in his own party on Tuesday [10-30-18]. House Speaker Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin, who is retiring, said in an interview that the president ‘obviously’ cannot eviscerate birthright citizenship by executive order…Doing away with birthright citizenship for the children of undocumented immigrants was an idea Mr. Trump pitched as a presidential candidate, but there is no clear indication that he would be able to do so unilaterally, and attempting to would be certain to prompt legal challenges. The consensus among legal scholars is that he cannot, but Mr. Trump and his allies are eager to test it in the Supreme Court.”
–Julie Hirschfeld Davis, “President Wants to Use Executive Order to End Birthright Citizenship,” The New York Times online, October 30, 2018