Donald Trump stalls on promise to end birthright citizenship

President Donald Trump has talked a lot about unilaterally fulfilling his campaign promise to end birthright citizenship for children born in the United States to parents living here illegally. But he's yet to take action that matches his words.

"You can definitely do it with an act of Congress. But now they're saying I can do it just with an executive order," Trump said in an October 2018 interview with Axios. Trump said he had discussed the idea with his counsel.

But Trump has not signed an executive order restricting birthright citizenship. We found no record of it within the Office of the Federal Register nor is it listed in the White House record of presidential actions.

If Trump does sign an order to limit or end birthright citizenship for certain groups, it will likely be challenged in courts.

Legal experts have told us that birthright citizenship is bolstered by both the Constitution and by statute, and that the longstanding application of birthright citizenship is a strong argument for keeping it in place. However, they also say that certain wording ("subject to the jurisdiction thereof") regarding birthright citizenship that appears in both the constitutional amendment and the statute give opponents of birthright citizenship wiggle room in the debate.

In the last Congress, Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, introduced a bill to advance Trump's promise. It didn't get farther than that.

It remains to be seen if the new Congress will pass a bill to end birthright citizenship. A Republican effort on that goal is also likely to see opposition from Democrats, who represent the majority in the House of Representatives.

With no movement on Trump's campaign promise, we rate this pledge Stalled.