Professor Michael LeRoy, an expert on immigration and employment law, spoke to the Illinois News Bureau about the implications of President Trump’s bid to potentially end birthright citizenship in the U.S.

Why did Congress pass a birthright citizenship law?

After the Civil War, Northern lawmakers had a basic choice: Do we enact laws to end slavery, or do we go beyond and enact laws to achieve America’s ideal that “all men are created equal”? They said yes to both propositions, and part of this idea included birthright citizenship.

We know this because they said so in a Senate debate in 1866. Illinois Sen. Lyman Trumball proposed an amendment to ensure its meaning was as broad as possible. He said: “The child of an Asiatic” – he’s referring to so-called “coolie” laborers, basically indentured servants from China – “is just as much a citizen as the child of a European.”

In adopting the 14th Amendment, Congress unambiguously meant for the children of these immigrant workers to have birthright citizenship.

Read the full interview.