Thompson: Trump is wielding U.S. citizenship as a weapon

Well, we will see where this ends up at SCOTUS but yes, the weaponization intent and actions are clear:

…Whether this particular legal battle will become a preoccupation of the Trump administration, amid so many other executive orders and attempts at presidential overreach, remains to be seen. But should Mr. Trump decide that the attack on birthright citizenship is a battle he wants to wage (or a useful distraction to draw attention away from the Epstein files), the implications are astounding. 

Birthright citizenship is not the only or even the most popular way that countries denote who can and cannot hold rights, participate in the political sphere, and be an irrevocable member of the political community. But in the United States, it is a core constitutional right. It has both a symbolic weight and offers fundamental legal protections in a country perpetually at odds over who truly belongs. 

This most recent attack is undeniably ideological. In Mr. Trump’s worldview, birthright citizenship is tightly tied with his priorities to curb immigration, secure borders and redefine American identity. Citizenship is most often associated with the right to vote, but more importantly confers the right to remain. To leave and come back. You cannot be denied entry to your own country, my brother, who decades ago worked as a Canadian immigration officer, once told me. They have to let you come home.

The Trump administration claims that its efforts will preserve and protect the meaning and value of American citizenship. They are instead an attempt to wield citizenship as a weapon. This executive order threatens to limit access to citizenship for the masses and will inevitably increase the administrative burden of proving citizenship for those for whom it has previously been automatic. Mr. Trump has threatened to revoke citizenship from his political opponents (or those he just doesn’t like), enabled the Department of Justice to strip citizenship from naturalized Americans charged with certain crimes, and created a path for wealthy foreigners to buy it through the “gold card” program for the low, low price of US$5-million. 

The proposed end to birthright citizenship is the hallmark policy of an America that seeks to close and bolt its doors to the huddled masses. The deeper lesson, however, is that nothing is absolute or untouchable, even and perhaps especially the constitutional order. Everything can be undone.

Source: Trump is wielding U.S. citizenship as a weapon