Donald Trump wants to make it so that children born in the U.S. to foreigners would only become citizens if at least one parent is a naturalized citizen or a permanent resident.
The election of Donald Trump in the United States in 2024 has caused a lot of worry among migrants, especially those who are not legally in the country. This worry is made worse by the idea that children born to foreign parents might not automatically become citizens.
Challenges in Securing Citizenship
As part of his campaign plan, Trump suggested a big change to the way citizenship is handled now. As of now, he wants federal agencies to follow a new rule: at least one parent must be a U.S. citizen or a legal permanent resident for the child to automatically become a citizen.
The current policy gives automatic citizenship to almost all children born in the U.S., no matter what their parents’ immigration status is. This proposed measure would change that policy in a big way.
A report from The Economic Times says that birthright citizenship has historically given children of migrants who are patiently waiting for a Green Card a glimmer of hope. It might not have helped the parents right away, but at least they knew their children would have some stability in their immigration status.
Donald Trump’s Views on the Green Card Policy
This is especially important for people from countries that have limited annual Green Card slots. Many foreigners with H-1B visas who want to work in the U.S. are stuck in a backlog that goes back decades.
Also, no one country can get more than 7% of all the Green Cards that are available for employment or family reasons. This restriction hurts applicants in the employment-based category more than others.
Recently, Donald Trump has said he has mixed feelings about Green Card policies, which could mean that they will be changed.
On the one hand, he wants to make it easier for skilled workers to come to the U.S. by suggesting that international students who graduate from U.S. universities, even those who only finished a two-year program, should be given automatic Green Cards.
