Attorney General Alan Wilson of South Carolina has joined a coalition of 26 attorneys general supporting President Trump’s executive order that seeks to end automatic birthright citizenship for illegal immigrants and birth tourists. The group submitted a friend-of-the-court brief addressing constitutional and policy issues related to the executive order.
President Trump issued the executive order on his first day in office, aiming to prevent individuals who are in the United States illegally or temporarily from obtaining automatic citizenship for their children born on U.S. soil. The coalition argues that the Fourteenth Amendment was not intended to provide automatic citizenship to children born under these circumstances.
The brief states that recent reports have raised additional concerns about foreign nationals attempting to exploit birthright citizenship policies. The Supreme Court is expected to hear arguments on this case in the spring.
Attorney General Wilson said, “The 14th Amendment was enacted to ensure that emancipated slaves were citizens. It was never meant to be a loophole so illegal aliens could have an anchor baby to allow the whole family to stay in the United States of America.”
South Carolina joined attorneys general from Iowa, Tennessee, Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Florida, Guam, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming in filing the brief.
