WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump wants to end birthright citizenship — the guarantee that anyone born on U.S. soil is an American citizen, no matter their parents’ legal status. But trying to end that guarantee, which was established more than 100 years ago, would not be easy. Some legal experts say any challenge would likely fail.

What You Need To Know

  • Birthright citizenship is the guarantee that anyone born on U.S. soil is an American citizen, no matter their parents’ legal status

  • Some legal experts believe efforts to end birthright citizenship via executive action would likely fail, because it contradicts the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment, and in 1898, the Supreme Court affirmed the constitutional right

  • The only other option would be to amend the U.S. Constitution, which is an onerous process that requires a proposal by a two-thirds vote of both Houses of Congress and ratification three-fourths of the state legislatures

Throughout his political career, Trump has made his views on birthright citizenship clear. He wants to end it. 

“We’re going to end that, because it’s ridiculous,” said Trump in his first network interview since the November election. 

When pressed by NBC News if it would be done through executive action, Trump responded, “If we can.” 

Such action would face immediate legal challenges.

The 14th Amendment’s Citizenship Clause says “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.”

In 1898, the Supreme Court affirmed the constitutional right, saying it did not matter if the person’s parents were not citizens. 

It is possible the current Supreme Court—with a 6 to 3 conservative majority—could come to a different conclusion, but Jessica Levinson, a professor at Loyola Law School, sees that as unlikely. 

“I expect that the courts would strike that down as contravening the Constitution,” Levinson said. “I see an executive order trying to undermine birthright citizenship as maybe more of a political strategy than a legal strategy. I really don’t see federal judges, conservative and liberal judges, saying that you can executive order your way out of a constitutional provision.” 

The only other option would be to amend the U.S. Constitution, which is an onerous process with a high bar. An amendment must be approved by a two-thirds vote of both Houses of Congress. Then it must be ratified by three-fourths of the state legislatures. 

“Given how hard it has been even to implement immigration legislation, I think we need to be careful about thinking that the Constitution could be easily amended,” Levinson said. “The federal Constitution is designed so that it’s difficult to amend, and you need a lot of political will to amend the federal Constitution.”

Edna Yang is the co-executive director of American Gateways, an immigrant legal service provider in Central Texas. Yanga says Trump’s statements from promising mass deportations to ending birthright citizenship are sending their clients into a panic. However, she believes Trump’s statements are doing little to fix the underlying problems in the country’s broken immigration system. 

“They won’t create a system that is more just, that is more fair, and it won’t fix the problem that we have currently,” Yang said.  

“We have to remember that our country is one that is based on immigrants and immigration, people fleeing harm, people fleeing persecution, people coming to seek a better life. The United States has been created by immigrants. When we talk about taking away birthright citizenship, we are actually denying our history of how we were created as a nation,” Yang continued.

The U.S. is one of more than two dozen countries in the world with no restrictions on birthright citizenship.