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Several groups led by DACA recipients gathered at La Placita Olvera in Los Angeles, California, on November 11, 2024, for a rally and march in response to policies President-elect Trump has promised to enforce against immigrants who have entered the country.
Can Trump end birthright citizenship?
The lawsuit, led by New Jersey, California, and Massachusetts, argues that Trump can’t unilaterally rewrite the Constitution’s 14th Amendment guarantee of birthright citizenship to every baby born in the US. They point to the Supreme Court’s Wong Kim Ark decision, which set the precedent of birthright citizenship regardless of the parents’ legal status in 1873.
Trump argues that revoking birthright citizenship is critical to curbing illegal migration to the US. He is supported by a minority of legal scholars who say that Wong Kim Ark decision misinterpreted the Constitution. They argue that because unauthorized migrants are not “subject to the jurisdiction” of US law – in the sense that they can’t vote and are excluded from certain rights afforded to Americans – that the 14th Amendment does not apply to them or their children.
Will Trump succeed? Trump can’t rewrite the 14th Amendment or 100 years of legal precedent with an executive order, but he could with the help of sympathetic judges. Lower courts are likely to side with the states, but if Trump appeals, it is likely to be decided by the Supreme Court, where the Conservative majority has not shied away from overturning legal precedent in recent terms.A ship passes through the Panama Canal's Culebra Cut, heading northbound for the Caribbean, Dec 30. The Canal, built and operated by the United States, will transfer to Panamanian control at a noon ceremony on December 31.
Trump talks of taking the Panama Canal - and jokes about Elon Musk
The President-elect is also making waves for saying that the United States must"retake" control of the Panama Canal. At a rally in Arizona on Sunday, Trump claimed that the canal's 1999 handover to Panama under the terms of an agreement signed by President Jimmy Carter was a "terrible mistake" and argued that the US must act to stop being“ripped off” by Panama and thwart the influence of China in the region.
The Panama Canal, built and managed by the US for decades, handles 2.5% of global ocean traffic, facilitating US imports from Asia and exports of key commodities including LNG.
At the same rally, Trump addressed chatter about Elon Muskusurping the US presidency. Last week, Musk had unsuccessfully attempted to sway Republican members of Congress to oppose US President Joe Biden’s latest spending bill, prompting fears of a government shutdown and accusations that Musk was acting like the President instead of an unelected advisor.
On Sunday, Trump joked that the South African native “is not going to be president. That I can tell you. I’m safe. You know why? He can’t be. He wasn’t born in this country.”