World Relief Responds to Executive Order Seeking to Terminate Birthright Citizenship

Contact: wr@pinkston.co

(Baltimore, MD) January 20, 2025 – Today, President Donald Trump issued an executive order seeking to terminate the principle of birthright citizenship, which is enshrined in the 14th amendment of the U.S. Constitution. 

World Relief opposes this action, both because we believe that it would be short-sighted and because the president lacks the legal authority to unilaterally make this change. The 14th amendment clearly states that “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States…”

“The U.S. Supreme Court has affirmed since the 19th century that, consistent with the straight-forward reading of the text, children born in the United States are U.S. citizens at birth regardless of the legal status of their parents, with the narrow exception of those whose parents are foreign diplomats and thus not ‘subject to the jurisdiction’ of the United States,” said World Relief Director of National Immigration Programs Robyn Brown, who is also an immigration attorney. 

While not all countries have similar birthright citizenship policies, the United States is far from unique: dozens of other countries have similar policies as well. 

“There is a process to amend the U.S. Constitution, of course, but this is not it,” said Matthew Soerens, Vice President of Advocacy and Policy at World Relief. “In any case, such a change would be shortsighted. Birthright citizenship has served the United States well. Our government estimates that about 11 million immigrants are currently residing in the United States unlawfully; had their children also been born without legal status, we’d have far more individuals residing unlawfully in our country, denied both the rights and responsibilities of citizenship and prohibited from fully contributing to what — thanks to the 14th amendment — is their country as much as it is any other American’s.”

World Relief urges President Trump to withdraw this order and encourages any individuals concerned with the impacts of this or other executive actions on their own legal status to consult with an immigration attorney or a non-profit organization recognized by the U.S. Department of Justice to provide legal assistance on immigration matters, including many World Relief offices and local churches affiliated with World Relief.