Trey Pollard trey.pollard@sierraclub.org
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- This morning, hours after active duty troops were deployed to the Southern border, reports surfaced that Donald Trump plans to sign an executive order that he claims would remove the right to birthright citizenship for babies born on U.S. soil.
In response, Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune released the following statement:
“The cherished promise of the United States is that our nation can and should serve as a place of refuge, free from persecution and prejudice, with equal rights for all. The principle of birthright citizenship enshrined by the 14th Amendment of the Constitution to establish the citizenship of former slaves moved us toward meeting that promise, yet Donald Trump thinks he can throw that all away with a stroke of his pen.
“What Trump is proposing is one of the most transparently hateful, racist, and cynical attempts to score political points in our nation’s history, and it will not work. Someone like Donald Trump who has so little regard for what is best about America should have no business determining who is and who is not an American. Thanks to the Constitution, he can not.
“Sadly, Trump’s hateful, anti-immigrant, and white nationalist and supremacist policies and border militarization efforts are already tearing families apart and destroying communities. Protecting our communities and our environment go hand-in-hand, and everyone who values a just and free America should continue to resist hateful actions like this one. That is why the Sierra Club rises in solidarity with immigrants and all those across the country who are targeted by these divisive policies, and why we pledge to vote to build an America that works for everyone on November 6.”
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About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with more than 3 million members and supporters. In addition to helping people from all backgrounds explore nature and our outdoor heritage, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.