US president-elect Donald Trump has said he plans to end birthright citizenship as part of his promised crackdown on immigration when he becomes president on Jan. 20.
Below is a look at US birthright citizenship and Trump’s legal authority to restrict it.
WHAT IS BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP?
Photo: AFP 照片：法新社
Anyone born in the United States is considered a citizen at birth, which derives from the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment, which was added to the Constitution in 1868. The amendment states: “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.” The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 also defines citizens and includes similar language.
There were an estimated 11 million immigrants in the US illegally in January 2022, according to a US Department of Homeland Security estimate, a figure that some analysts now place at 13 million to 14 million. Their US-born children are considered by the government to have US citizenship. Trump has complained about foreign women visiting the United States for the purpose of giving birth and conferring US citizenship on their offspring.
ARE THERE EXCEPTIONS?
Photo: AFP 照片：法新社
Yes. People born in the United States to a foreign diplomatic officer with diplomatic immunity are not US citizens because they are not subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.
WHAT HAS THE SUPREME COURT SAID?
The Supreme Court has not addressed whether the Citizenship Clause applies to US-born children of people who are in the United States illegally.
Photo: AFP 照片：法新社
The main birthright citizenship case is from 1898, when the Supreme Court ruled that the son of lawful immigrants from China was a US citizen by virtue of his birth in 1873 in San Francisco. The man, Wong Kim Ark, had been denied re-entry to the United States after a visit to China at a time when immigration from China was severely restricted.
The Supreme Court also ruled in 1884 in a dispute over voter registration that US-born John Elk was not a citizen because he was born as a member of a Native American tribe and therefore not subject to US jurisdiction. Congress extended US citizenship to Native Americans in 1924.
WHAT IS THE VIEW OF OPPONENTS OF BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP?
Some scholars argue that if lawmakers wanted all people born in the country to be citizens, they would not have added the clause to the 14th Amendment specifying that citizens “be subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States.
They argue that this language excludes people who entered the country illegally and by implications, their US-born children. Republican senators Lindsey Graham from South Carolina and Tom Cotton from Arkansas proposed bills this year that defined US-born children as not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the US if their parents were in the country illegally.
Most scholars are dismissive of that interpretation of the jurisdiction language. Unlike diplomats, people in the country illegally do not have legal immunity and are subject to the US laws.
CAN TRUMP END BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP WITH AN EXECUTIVE ORDER?
The Constitution gives Congress the power to regulate citizenship, and no president has ever tried to redefine the rules of citizenship using executive orders, though Trump promised to do so in his first term.
Trump could issue an executive order to redefine birthright citizenship. Legal experts said he might declare that it requires one parent must be a US citizen, a permanent resident or a member of the military — language that appeared in the Graham bill. He could direct his agencies to withhold passports or other documents and benefits unless the person meets the new requirement.
Anyone denied a document or benefit could challenge it and legal experts said the executive order would almost certainly be blocked immediately in the courts. But it would also put the issue on a path toward the Supreme Court and likely force the justices to determine who is entitled to birthright citizenship.
If courts decided the Constitution protected birthright citizenship, then only an amendment could change that. A Constitutional amendment would require two-thirds of both houses and approval by three-quarters of state legislatures, a process that would likely take years. The Constitution has not been amended since 1992.
(Reuters)
美國總統當選人唐納．川普承諾要打擊移民，說他計劃在1月20日就任總統時廢除美國出生公民權。
以下為美國出生公民權概觀，以及川普對其加以限縮的法律權力。
出生公民權是什麼？
任何在美國出生的人，一出生就被視為美國公民，其法源為1868年美國憲法第14修正案中的公民權條款。該修正案規定：「所有在美國出生或歸化美國並受其管轄的人，都是美國及其居住州之公民」。1952年的《移民和國籍法》也對公民做出定義，且包含類似的用語。
根據美國國土安全部的估計，2022年1月美國約有一千一百萬非法移民，一些分析師認為這數字目前為一千三百萬至一千四百萬人。他們在美國出生的孩子被政府視為擁有美國公民身份。川普抱怨外國婦女為了要讓其後代擁有美國公民身份，而來美國生孩子。
是否有例外？
有的。具有外交豁免權的外國外交官，其在美國出生的子女不是美國公民，因為他們不受美國的管轄。
最高法院怎麼說？
公民身份條款是否適用於非法居留者在美國出生的子女，最高法院尚未做出討論。
主要的出生公民權案例始於1898年，當時最高法院裁定，一位名叫黃金德（Wong Kim Ark）的男子為美國公民，因他1873年出生於舊金山。黃金德的父母是來自中國的合法移民，他去中國一趟後歸來，被美國拒絕入境，因美國當時的排華政策，嚴格限制來自中國的移民。
最高法院1884年對一項選民登記糾紛做出裁決，認定出生於美國的約翰‧艾爾克不是美國公民，因他出生時屬於原住民部落，所以不受美國管轄。1924年，國會將美國公民身分擴大適用於美國原住民。
出生公民權之反對者觀點為何？
一些學者認為，要是立法者希望所有在美國出生的人都成為美國公民，就不會在第14修正案中增加規定公民「受美國管轄」的條款。
他們認為，這種語言排除了非法入境美國的人，也暗示排除他們在美國出生的孩子。共和黨籍的南卡羅萊納州參議員林賽‧葛瑞姆和阿肯色州的湯姆‧柯頓今年提出了一項法案，規定美國出生的兒童若其父母在美國屬非法居留，則不受美國「管轄」。
大多數學者對管轄權措辭的解釋不屑一顧。與外交官不同，非法居留者沒有法律豁免權，且受美國法律的約束。
川普是否能以行政命令取消出生公民權？
憲法賦予國會監管公民身份的權力，沒有一位總統試圖用行政命令重新定義公民身份規定，雖然川普在他第一個任期中曾承諾這麼做。
川普可能會發布行政命令，重新定義出生公民權。法律專家表示，他可能會宣布，要求父母之一必須是美國公民、永久居民或軍人——這些措辭出現在葛瑞姆法案中。川普可能會指示政府扣留護照或其他文件和福利，除非此人符合新的規定。
任何被拒發文件或福利的人都可提出質疑，法律專家表示，行政命令在法庭上幾乎確定會立即被阻擋。但這也會把此問題轉到最高法院，並可能迫使法官對誰有權獲得出生公民權做出裁決。
若法院裁定憲法保護出生公民權，那麼只有修憲才能改變這一點。憲法修正案需要參眾兩院三分之二的多數票通過，並獲得四分之三的州立法機構的批准，此過程可能需要好幾年的時間。美國憲法自1992年以來，就沒有再修改過。
（台北時報林俐凱編譯）
Scientists have made a groundbreaking discovery in the depths of the Pacific Ocean: oxygen production without the involvement of living organisms. Four kilometers below the surface where sunlight cannot reach, researchers have found metallic lumps generating what they term “dark oxygen.” This form of oxygen is produced through a process independent of photosynthesis. Unlike the traditional photosynthesis process, where organisms use sunlight, carbon dioxide, and water to create energy and oxygen, the newly discovered phenomenon operates in complete darkness. The accidental finding occurred during a study of metal-rich lumps in an abyssal plain between Hawaii and Mexico. These lumps, known as
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