{"id":38413,"date":"2025-02-01T05:34:18","date_gmt":"2025-02-01T10:34:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/cannon-ball-nd-58528\/the-birthright-controversy\/"},"modified":"2025-02-01T05:34:21","modified_gmt":"2025-02-01T10:34:21","slug":"the-birthright-controversy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/cannon-ball-nd-58528\/the-birthright-controversy\/","title":{"rendered":"The birthright controversy"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/span><\/div>
\"Calvin<\/a><\/p>\n

Calvin Coolidge poses with Native American leaders on the White House lawn in 1925. This photo was taken shortly after Coolidge signed the epoch making Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 into law. (Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

RAPID CITY\u2014President Trump\u2019s cam\u00adpaign promise to deport illegal immigrants has produced an executive order attack\u00ading birthright citizenship. The Fourteenth Amendment reads \u201call persons born or nat\u00aduralized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and the State in which they reside.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s legal team argues that \u201csubject to the jurisdiction thereof\u201d excludes babies born to non-citizens, asserting, like their parents, they are not subject to the jurisdic\u00adtion of the United States.<\/p>\n

But a federal judge, John Coughenour, ap\u00adpointed by Ronald Reagan, has issued a tem\u00adporary restraining order blocking Trump\u2019s executive order. Coughenour believes the executive order is \u201cblatantly unconstitu\u00adtional,\u201d and he goes on to say, \u201cI have been on the bench for over four decades. I can\u2019t remember another case where the question presented was so clear.\u201d<\/p>\n

The case is scheduled to be reheard by Coughenour on February 6, until then action on the executive order is frozen.<\/p>\n

One of the arguments presented by Trump\u2019s legal team to advance their in\u00adterpretation of \u201csubject to the jurisdiction thereof,\u201d has alarmed most of Indian Coun\u00adtry. Trump\u2019s team cited an 1884 Supreme Court decision, Elk v Wilkins, asserting that children of non-resident aliens lack a con\u00adstitutional birthright to citizenship, even if born in the United States. They argue that because in Elk v Wilkins, the Court held that because tribal members owe immediate al\u00adlegiance to their tribe, \u201cthey are not subject to jurisdiction of the United States and are not constitutionally entitled to citizenship.\u201d Meaning that if children are born to tribal members, they too are not citizens despite being born in the United States.<\/p>\n

This was true in 1884, but the 1924 Indi\u00adan Citizenship Act made all tribal members US citizens, and renders any previous de\u00adclared citizenship status, including 1884 Elk v Wilkins, moot. No previous legal ruling applies if it should deny the citizenship of all tribal members.<\/p>\n

Tribes and the media have largely ignored this salient fact and as a result tribes have been kept alarmed at the prospect Trump is after their citizenship. Trump\u2019s legal team was well aware of that and so their argu\u00adment was looking for an historic precedent, which no longer applied to tribes, but the logic from the 1884 decision still did. They argue the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 only excludes tribal members from the 1884 decision, but that other non-resident aliens would still be logically bound to the Court ruling. The 14th Amendment was added to the Constitution 16 years before Elk v Wilkins, which is why the argument centers on \u201csubject to the jurisdiction thereof,\u201d which are words from the 14th Amendment.<\/p>\n

This is an example of how the media misunderstood why 1884 Elk v Wilkins was cited: \u201cHowever, in a recent document defending the birthright citizenship Order, the Department of Justice, under Trump, falsely claimed that children of Native Americans are not entitled to citizenship.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is inaccurate. The argument was addressing the status of tribal members before 1924, when they were not entitled to citizenship. The Department of Justice never claimed Native Americans are not entitled to citizenship. Trump\u2019s legal team was not addressing anything post 1924, but arguing that the status of Indians before 1924 sets precedent for denying citizenship to present day anchor babies.<\/p>\n

The argument on February 6 between Trump and Judge Coughenour will focus on the interpretation of \u201csubject to the jurisdiction thereof.\u201d But however the decision turns out, the executive order does not threaten the citizenship of tribal members in any way. It was perhaps not the best optics to bring up tribal citizenship, but it was the only argument Trump had that can logically empower his executive order.<\/p>\n

(James Giago Davies is an enrolled member of OST. Contact him at skindiesel@msn.com<\/a>)<\/span> <\/p>\n

The post The birthright controversy<\/a> first appeared on Native Sun News Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Visit Original Source<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

<\/span><\/div>

Calvin Coolidge poses with Native American leaders on the White House lawn in 1925. This photo was taken shortly after Coolidge signed the epoch making Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 into law. (Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division) RAPID CITY\u2014President Trump\u2019s cam\u00adpaign promise to deport illegal immigrants has produced <\/p>\n

Read More<\/a>
Shared by Native Sun News Today<\/a> February 1, 2025<\/p>\n

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