The Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation has issued a statement opposing former President Donald Trump’s executive order seeking to end birthright citizenship in the United States, Oil City News reports.
The foundation, which preserves the site of a World War II Japanese American internment camp near Cody, Wyoming, warned of historical parallels and the potential consequences of such a move.
The order, signed late Monday, argues that the 14th Amendment does not automatically grant citizenship to all individuals born on US soil. Instead, it seeks to limit citizenship to those whose parents meet specific legal criteria. Trump’s plan, which could take effect on February 19, also raises questions about whether the policy would apply retroactively.
On Tuesday, 22 states joined a lawsuit to block the order. Birthright citizenship, rooted in the principle of jus soli (or “right of soil”), is recognized by the US and 29 other countries, according to the Associated Press.
The Heart Mountain site, which operated as a Japanese American internment camp from 1942 to 1945, serves as a reminder of past government policies that denied basic rights to US citizens. In a statement, the foundation criticized the use of the Alien Enemies Act, a law dating back to 1798, as a basis for the executive order.
“This incarceration, for which the US government apologized in 1988, was enabled in part by the Alien Enemies Act, a 1798 law that has long outlived whatever purpose it once had,” the statement read.
The foundation emphasized the constitutional protection of birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment and warned that if such policies had existed in the past, many Japanese Americans might not have been recognized as citizens.
The foundation also argued that fundamental changes to immigration and citizenship policy should come through Congress, not executive orders. It cited Senator Alan Simpson, a Wyoming Republican and champion of bipartisan immigration reform, as an example of principled leadership on such issues.
“We believe the rightful way to change basic citizenship and immigration policy is through Congress,” the foundation stated.
The statement highlighted the 1986 bipartisan immigration law signed by President Ronald Reagan.
Wyoming’s congressional delegation, including Senator John Barrasso and Senator Cynthia Lummis, has been supportive of Trump’s broader immigration enforcement measures. Local media, including Oil City News, has reached out to both senators for comments on the executive order.
