Letters to the Editor

Citizenship is the issue

Editor:

In one of his recent interviews, President-elect Trump indicated that he was considering doing away with citizenship by birth. There was no indication as to how he would attempt to do this.

He might be under the impression that he could accomplish this by executive order or by legislative action through the U.S. Congress. He could not achieve his goal by either action, because citizenship by birth was granted in the first section of Amendment XIV of the Constitution. As part of the Constitution it could only be abolished or altered by amending the Constitution.

The rules for amending the Constitution are in Article V of that document. There are only two ways it can be amended. Amendment(s) can only be proposed either by a two-thirds vote of both houses of congress or by a Constitutional Convention called by two-thirds of the state legislatures. Such proposed amendments can only become effective in ratified by three quarters of the state legislatures.

As this change would be very controversial and the current political divisions of our nation, it is my opinion that citizenship by birth will neither be repealed nor altered.

George Holbrook

Rio Communities