United States President Donald Trump has defended his administration’s efforts to end birthright citizenship, arguing that the constitutional provision was originally intended to protect the children of formerly enslaved people rather than those born to wealthy foreign nationals or undocumented immigrants in the United States.
Trump made the remarks while speaking at the opening of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library, reacting to a recent ruling by the Supreme Court of the United States on birthright citizenship.
According to the president, the court had misinterpreted the intent of the law.
“We’ll take care of the birthright citizenship because that was not meant for rich people from other countries,” Trump said.
“It was meant for the babies of slaves, I know they got it wrong.”
Birthright citizenship is guaranteed under the Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution, which was adopted after the Civil War and grants US citizenship to individuals born on American soil.
Trump maintained that the amendment was primarily designed to protect the children of formerly enslaved people and not the children of foreign visitors or undocumented migrants.
Although he acknowledged the court’s decision, the president signalled that his administration would continue exploring options to challenge the current interpretation of the law.
“We’ll work it out some way,” he added.
Meanwhile, US Vice President JD Vance also criticised the ruling, saying he believed the court had erred in its interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Vance argued that the framers of the amendment did not intend for automatic citizenship to extend to children born to undocumented immigrants or tourists in the United States.
LEADERSHIP earlier reported that the United States Supreme Court, on Tuesday, rejected President Trump’s Executive Order seeking to limit birthright citizenship, affirming that children born on American soil remain entitled to automatic US citizenship under the Constitution.
In a 6-3 ruling delivered on Tuesday, the court upheld a 150-year-old legal precedent that grants citizenship to individuals born in the United States, regardless of their parents’ immigration status.
The decision marks a major setback for Trump, who has long campaigned against birthright citizenship and made its abolition a key component of his immigration agenda.
Trump had signed the executive order shortly after returning to the White House, seeking to deny automatic citizenship to children born in the US to parents who are in the country illegally or are on temporary visas.
Opponents of the policy argued that the order violated the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution, which states that persons “born or naturalised” in the United States are citizens.
Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts said children born to parents residing in the US unlawfully or temporarily are “citizens at birth” under the Constitution.
Roberts cited the historical origins of the 14th Amendment, which was adopted after the American Civil War to settle questions surrounding the citizenship of formerly enslaved people born in the United States.
