CAIR-NY Condemns Trump’s ‘Racist, Politically-Motivated and Unconstitutional’ Plan to End Birthright Citizenship

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NEW YORK, NY, 10/30/18) – The New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-NY) today condemned President Trump’s pledge to strip away by executive order the right to citizenship for children born in the United States to non-citizens and immigrants not authorized to be in the U.S. as “racist, politically-motivated and unconstitutional.”

In an interview with "Axios on HBO," a new documentary news series debuting next Sunday, Trump said he plans to issue an executive order that would remove the right to citizenship for children born in the U.S. to non-citizen and undocumented immigrant parents.

SEE: Trump Targeting Birthright Citizenship with Executive Order 

The 14th Amendment to the Constitution states that: “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.”

“Let us be clear: no president has the power to take away citizenship from those who were born here,” said CAIR-NY Legal Director Albert Fox Cahn. “This order betrays the promise made by earlier generations who wanted to make sure that America never repeated the injustice inflicted on countless African Americans who were born into a country that would never recognize them at citizens. We have long failed to live up to the higher ambitions of true equality for all, but we will never let this President drag us down to new depths of division.”

He added: “If Trump follows through on this threat, we and the nation’s other immigrant, human and civil rights organizations will fight him in court.”

Last week, CAIR condemned Donald Trump’s use of a racist and Islamophobic “dog whistle” to promote his “divisive political agenda” prior to the midterm elections.

In a tweet, Trump claimed – without offering evidence – that "unknown Middle Easterners are mixed in" the migrant caravan making its way through Mexico toward the United States border. 

SEE: CAIR Condemns Trump’s Racist, Islamophobic ‘Dog Whistle’ on Migrant Caravan

CAIR’s mission is to protect civil rights, enhance understanding of Islam, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.

La misión de CAIR es proteger las libertades civiles, mejorar la comprensión del Islam, promover la justicia, y empoderar a los musulmanes en los Estados Unidos.

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