Barron Trump’s citizenship has been explained after Donald Trump made some serious moves to end birthright citizenship.
After Trump was sworn in as the 47th president of the United States on Monday (20 January), he immediately got to work.
The 78-year-old signed a lot of new policies, such as withdrawing from the Paris Climate Agreement and the World Health Organisation (WHO), as well as delaying the TikTok ban.
However, it was the ending the birthright citizenship which left many to wonder what was going to happen with his youngest son Barron Trump’s US citizenship.
The birthright citizenship has left many questions about Barron Trump (SAUL LOEB/POOL/AFP via Getty Image)
What is birthright citizenship in the US?
To explain what it all means, essentially, it’s the legal principle of jus soli – which means ‘right of the soil’ in Latin.
The 14th Amendment to the US constitution states that there is a principle of birthright citizenship, where ‘all persons born or naturalised in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside’.
So, anyone born in the US is a citizen, regardless of their parents’ citizenship.
Donald Trump is attempting to change how a person is identified as a US citizen (Evan Vucci – Pool/Getty Images)
What is going to happen to the birthright citizenship?
Simply put, 30 days after the new executive order was signed, anyone who is born in the US who doesn’t have a least one parent who is a lawful permanent resident or US citizen, are no longer automatically extended US citizenship.
This means that it disallows federal agencies from issuing or recognising documentation proving US citizenship for children who don’t meet that criteria.
For any children who are born to unauthorised immigrants or those on temporary visas, they will not be recognised as US citizens.
However, a judge has already blocked Trump’s executive order, with such a significant change to the constitution likely to face major legal challenges.
Barron Trump’s citizenship is being questioned (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
What are people saying about Barron Trump’s citizenship?
Well, Barron was born to Melania Trump, who became an official US citizen on 28 July 2006, and Trump was already a US citizen due to his birthright, and his parents.
However, Barron was born on 20 March 2006, months before Melania was a US citizen.
Online, people believe that they’ve found a fault in Trump’s plan, as his own son wouldn’t be recognised under his own order.
One person wrote: “She was not a citizen when he was born sooo…… Barron was not born to an American mother.. Doesn’t that go against his immigration laws?????”
Barron will remain a US citizen as the order doesn’t affect his status (JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)
What does the change to birthright citizenship mean for Barron Trump?
While Barron’s mother is Slovenian-born, he’s a US citizen by birth and thanks to Trump’s US status, which means the executive order wouldn’t impact him.
As someone summarised: “She was married to [Trump] by then, and, regrettably he is an American citizen.”
Another confirmed as per the order: “His father is a citizen, and the change is not retroactive. ‘Subsection (a) of this section shall apply only to persons who are born within the United States after 30 days from the date of this order.’”
