US President-elect Donald Trump is going to act on his election promises of mass deportations, new tariffs and pardons for the January 6 defendants on day one of his second term. In his first television interview since his re-election, Trump revealed his plans to end birthright citizenship, which is guaranteed by the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution. He also discussed plans to pull back on US support for Ukraine and said Kyiv should “probably” prepare for less aid. n18oc_world n18oc_crux

India on Tuesday evacuated 75 Indian nationals from Syria, two days after rebel forces overthrew President Bashar Assad’s authoritarian government.

The evacuation, coordinated by the embassies of India in Damascus and Beirut, was put into effect following an assessment of the security situation, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said.

“The Government of India today evacuated 75 Indian nationals from Syria, following recent developments in that country,” it said in a late-night statement.

“The evacuees included 44 ‘zaireen’ from Jammu and Kashmir who were stranded at Saida Zainab. All Indian nationals have safely crossed over to Lebanon and will return by available commercial flights to India,” it said.

The MEA said the government accords the highest priority to the safety and security of Indian nationals abroad.

“Indian nationals remaining in Syria are advised to stay in touch with the Indian Embassy in Damascus,” it said.

“The government will continue to monitor the situation closely,” the MEA added.

The Syrian government collapsed on Sunday as the rebels seized control of the capital Damascus after capturing several other prominent cities and towns. Assad fled the country after the rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) took control of Damascus, marking the end of his family’s 50-year rule.

Russian state media reported that Assad is in Moscow and will be given asylum. His nearly 14-year tenure was marked by civil war, bloodshed and brutal crackdown on his political opponents.

The MEA Monday said it is monitoring the unfolding developments in Syria and advocated a peaceful and inclusive Syrian-led political process going forward in that country.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

President-elect Donald Trump believes birthright-citizenship is “ridiculous” and wants to end it after taking office on January 20th. A guarantee that has been enshrined in the Constitution for more than 150 years.

The United States grants citizenship to children born within its borders, regardless of the citizenship of its parents. However, that will soon change.

“We’re going to have to get it changed,” Mr. Trump said in an interview. “We’ll maybe have to go back to the people. But we have to end it.” Although he had raised this issue during his first term as well, nothing substantial happened.

“It’s not the practice of every country, and Trump and his supporters have argued that the system is being abused and that there should be tougher standards for becoming an American citizen,” Russell A Stamets, Partner at Circle of Counsels, told Business Standard.

The right of birthright citizenship is based on the 14th Amendment to the Constitution and is well-established under US law, so elimination would encounter significant legal challenges.

The 14th Amendment says, “All persons born or naturalised in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”

Trump and other opponents of this policy say that this enables “birth tourism”, a phenomenon where pregnant women enter the US specifically to give birth in order for their children to have US citizenship before coming back to their home countries.

“Simply crossing the border and having a child should not entitle anyone to citizenship,” said Eric Ruark, director of research for NumbersUSA, which argues for reducing immigration, as per the Associated Press.

Trump also said, “I don’t want to be breaking up families, so the only way you don’t break up the family is you keep them together and you have to send them all back”, which means legal citizens would also be expelled in order to keep families together.

A 2011 factsheet by the American Immigration Council says that removing birthright citizenship would affect everyone, and it will get difficult for American parents to prove citizenship of their children.

“Our birth certificates are proof of our citizenship. If birthright citizenship were eliminated, US citizens could no longer use their birth certificates as proof of citizenship,” the factsheet says.

According to Pew Research’s analysis of the 2022 US Census, about 4.8 million Indian-Americans are living in America, of which 34 per cent, or 1.6 million, were born in the country. These individuals are citizens of the United States under the current law. If Trump were to abolish this law, 1.6 million Indians will be impacted.

However, the president cannot amend the Constitution and an executive effort to restrict the right would amount to violation of the 14th Amendment.

“I don’t take his statements very seriously. He has been saying things like this for almost a decade,” Alex Nowrasteh, vice president at the pro-immigration Cato Institute told the Associated Press. “He didn’t do anything to further this agenda when he was president before.”