Trump takes US out of WHO, ends birthright citizenship for children of illegal immigrants
The United States President, Donald Trump, hit the office yesterday with rash changes ended the country’s commitment to the World Health Organization (WHO). He also immediately canceled birthright citizenship for children born to illegal immigrants in the United States.
The two are among the slew of executive orders Trump signed after reaching the White House Monday night.
In formally withdrawing the United States from the WHO, President Donald Trump said the far-reaching pandemic monitoring organization had “ripped off” the U.S.
The U.S. is the largest funder of the WHO, which monitors disease outbreaks around the world. The U.S. also majorly contributes to the WHO’s work — including collaborations with the CDC and NIH on issues like cancer prevention and global health security.
Trump’s executive order is an attempt to finish what he started in his last presidency and is all but guaranteed to succeed this time around. Trump removed the U.S. from the WHO in 2020, but withdrawal requires one year of advance notice. Biden took office six months later and revoked Trump’s action before it ever took effect.
This time around, the U.S.’s withdrawal is again supposed to be a yearlong process, confirmed Lawrence Gostin, professor of law and global health at George Washington University and Director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Center on Public Health Law & Human Rights.
But Trump will likely act as if he’s already withdrawn, disengaging from the WHO, and without bipartisan agreement from Congress to overturn Trump’s action, which isn’t likely, the WHO will officially lose its largest funder by 2026.
“And these are things that really matter to America, like HIV, AIDS, like Polio eradication and responding to health emergencies,” Gostin told ABC News. “Really in my mind this is shooting yourself in the foot and making America decidedly less safe and less secure.”
Trump, asked by a reporter Monday night about his experience leading the country during the COVID-19 pandemic and the importance of the WHO to mount a global response to pandemics, said the withdrawal was about “being ripped off.”
“Everybody rips off the United States and that’s it — it’s not going to happen anymore,” Trump said.
The text of the executive order describes an “unfair” demand of “onerous payments from the United States, far out of proportion with other countries’ assessed payments.”
“China, with a population of 1.4 billion, has 300 percent of the population of the United States, yet contributes nearly 90 percent less to the WHO,” the executive order said.
Gostin confirmed that China pays far less to the WHO. “But the fact that China should pay more doesn’t mean we should pay less. This isn’t leverage against China. This is gutting the World Health Organization,” Gostin said.
Similarly, President Trump also signed an executive order on Monday ending birthright citizenship for children of illegal immigrants — one of a slew of border-related orders he is signing to overhaul U.S. immigration policy and border security.
“The privilege of United States citizenship is a priceless and profound gift,” Trump says in the order.
The order, “Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship” will almost certainly face an immediate legal challenge from civil rights and immigration activist groups, who argue such an order is unconstitutional.
Supporters and opponents of the move disagree over the meaning of the 14th amendment, which 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.”
Some legal experts have said that such a move is a constitutional change and cannot be made by executive order. The move will almost certainly face a challenge in court from civil rights groups and immigration activists.
Trump advisers and some conservative legal scholars have previously argued that the idea of giving birthright citizenship to children of illegal immigrants is based on a misreading of the amendment.
“Among the categories of individuals born in the United States and not subject to the jurisdiction thereof, the privilege of United States citizenship does not automatically extend to persons born in the United States: (1) when that person’s mother was unlawfully present in the United States and the father was not a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident at the time of said person’s birth, or (2) when that person’s mother’s presence in the United States at the time of said person’s birth was lawful but temporary (such as, but not limited to, visiting the United States under the auspices of the Visa Waiver Program or visiting on a student, work, or tourist visa) and the father was not a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident at the time of said person’s birth,” the order says.
It’s one of a slew of executive orders Trump is signing related to border security and illegal immigration on his first day in office. Trump also signed an order declaring a national emergency at the border.
Trump will also sign orders directing the federal government to resume border wall construction, and ending Biden parole policies – including the use of the CBP One app to parole migrants into the U.S., and the parole processes for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans (CHNV). The CBP One app had its functionality limited by Monday afternoon.
Republican Presidential Candidate and former President Donald Trump walks along the U.S.-Mexico border on August 22, 2024 south of Sierra Vista, Arizona. Trump will hold a rally in Glendale, Arizona tomorrow.
Another order will send U.S. troops for deployment to the southern and northern borders under U.S. Northern Command and will “instruct the military to prioritize our own borders and territorial integrity in strategic planning for its operations.”
A third order will designate international cartels and organizations, including MS-13 and the bloodthirsty Tren de Aragua, as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) and Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGT). An FTO designation allows for targeted action against members, including financial penalties.
On Monday, incoming officials also said Trump will sign orders suspending refugee resettlement for four months and ending the ability for migrants to claim asylum by creating an immediate removal process without the possibility of asylum.
“We are going to end asylum and close the border to illegals,” an official said.
