EXECUTIVE ORDER: President Trump questions Native American birthright

A judge temporarily blocked President Trump’s recent birthright executive order after saying it was "unconstitutional."

President Trump’s order to end birthright has had a lot of people talking—and not just immigrants, but the Native American community as well.

Native Americans gained citizenship in 1924. Now, the Justice Department cited their status as a legal analogy to justify Trump’s executive order in court.Arguing “birth in the United States does not by itself entitle a person to citizenship, the person must also be ‘subject to the jurisdiction’ of the United States.” It raised a case from 1884 that found members of Indian tribes “are not ‘subject to the jurisdiction’ of the United States and are not constitutionally entitled to Citizenship."

Now, many tribal members are taking a stand both in person and on social media.

Amendment 14 states, "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.”

Trump's administration argues Natives are not citizens because they hold allegiance to their tribal nations.

Jerrid Lee Miller is a member of the Cherokee Nation. He thinks this kind of rhetoric can damage native relations.

“These are just my absolute worst fears, is that it's going to be used to further break down our sovereignty, break down our individuality," he said. “President Trump is going after the 14th Amendment, and that that's a scary thing because that is part of the Constitution.”

One of the content creators speaking out about this executive order is Herschel Gorham.

He's an attorney who specializes in tribal law.

He said the U.S. government passed the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 to remove any suspicion of natives being citizens.

It reads: "All non—citizen Indians born within the territorial limits of the United States, be, and they are hereby, declared to be citizens of the United States."

While he is disheartened the viewpoint does encourage the country to view the Native population differently, he doesn't think the executive order will pass.

“I don't think it has any legs," he said. "I honestly feel like he's just doing some of these things to appease his support base, the people that voted for him. He's trying to show that he's doing the things that he said he was going to do.”

The injunction is a 2-week stay. Multiple lawsuits are pending to stop this executive order.

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