After Trump's decision on US citizenship: Which European countries practice the right to citizenship by birth?
President Donald Trump recently said that the U.S. is the only country in the world that offers citizenship to a child born on its soil, regardless of the nationality of the parents. Trump made the comments on his first day back in office, as he sat in the Oval Office signing a series of executive orders, trying to fulfill one of his campaign promises.
"It's ridiculous, " he said. "We're the only country in the world that does this by birthright, as you know, and it's absolutely ridiculous ." But that's not true; many other countries practice the principle of unlimited 'jus soli,' which means "right of the land," including the US's neighbors, Canada and Mexico.
In fact, most countries that offer automatic citizenship to those born there are in the Americas, such as Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Peru. However, in Europe, most states practice the principle of jus sanguinis, which grants citizenship to a child if one or both of their parents are of that nationality.
No EU country grants automatic and unconditional citizenship to children born there to foreign parents, according to a European Parliament conference. Some countries have a form of jus soli, but it comes with conditions, most often that the parents must have lived in the country for a certain period of time before the child was born.
European countries that have such rules include Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Portugal and the United Kingdom. Some countries practice double jus soli, which is when children born in a country to foreign citizens can acquire citizenship at birth if at least one of their parents was also born in the country.
Children automatically acquire citizenship this way in France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain. Belgium and Greece also have dual jus soli, but with some conditions attached.
Sometimes jus soli in Europe is limited by a ban on dual citizenship, as in Spain. Here, children of foreign nationals can acquire citizenship in this way only if they renounce any other foreign citizenship acquired at birth, according to a European Parliament conference.
Is Trump's plan likely to succeed?
U.S. District Judge John Coughenour for the Western District of Washington has temporarily blocked Trump’s executive order to redefine birthright citizenship, calling it an “unconstitutional loophole.” The president said he will appeal the ruling, setting the stage for a long legal battle.
Birthright citizenship has been in place in the US for decades and applies to children born to someone in the country illegally, or anyone on a tourist or student visa who plans to return home. Trump and his supporters have argued that the system is being abused and that there should be tougher standards for becoming a US citizen.
They claim the principle is a magnet for "birth tourism ," where pregnant women enter the U.S. specifically to give birth so their children can obtain citizenship before returning home.
However, others argue that it is a right enshrined in the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, would be extremely difficult to overturn, and even if possible, is a bad idea because it would undermine efforts to integrate and assimilate immigrants and their children.
"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 14th Amendment states. "No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States."
Changing the Constitution would be a difficult task: a new constitutional amendment by Congress would require a two-thirds vote in both the House and Senate and ratification by three-fourths of the states.
Most legal experts tend to believe that it would not be possible to revoke birthright citizenship, despite the government's claims to the contrary. Judge Coughenour's ruling was a temporary restraining order to block the administration from implementing or enforcing Trump's order nationally for two weeks.
During that time, the parties will file further briefs on the legal merits of the executive order. Coughenour set another hearing for Feb. 6 to hear arguments on whether to issue a preliminary injunction, which would block the executive order for an extended period while the case proceeds. Meanwhile, other cases challenging the order are also underway in other states.
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