*By Conor White*
Donald Trump may be looking to score points with his base ahead of midterm elections by turning the conversation back to immigration.
With one week to go before Election Day, Trump proposed ending birthright immigration with an executive order during an interview for "Axios on HBO" [released Tuesday morning](https://www.axios.com/trump-birthright-citizenship-executive-order-0cf4285a-16c6-48f2-a933-bd71fd72ea82.html).
"It was always told to me that you needed a constitutional amendment. Guess what? You don't," the president claimed in the video.
Birthright citizenship is protected under the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and any effort to end it would come under immediate legal challenge. Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan broke with Trump to make a firm statement against his proposal shortly after the interview was released.
"You cannot end birthright citizenship with an executive order," he said in an interview with Kentucky radio station WVLK.
Trump's birthright proposal came one day after the Pentagon said it would send more than 5,000 U.S. troops to the southern border to prepare for what Trump has called an "invasion" of asylum-seeking migrants slowly making their way through Mexico.
Some observers see the focus on immigration as politically-motivated.
"One gets the sense that he hasn't thought through the details very strongly," David Graham, staff writer at The Atlantic, said about Trump's birthright proposal in an interview Tuesday on Cheddar. "What he's really concerned with is the rhetoric and how it plays politically."
"He's remembering 2016 and seeing the magic he got talking about immigration," Graham continued, "Hoping he can recreate that and pull a win out."
However, Shannon Vavra, a political reporter at Axios, noted that Trump has long railed against so-called "anchor babies" and other longstanding immigration policies such a "chain migration," which refers to immigrants sponsoring family members to come to the U.S. She said the timing may just be Trump being Trump.
"The timing of it is definitely questionable at this point," she said, "but President Trump tends to do what he wants to do."
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/trump-says-hell-end-birthright-citizenship).
The recent crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border isn't that different from the injustices committed against the transgender community, says actress and transgender rights activist Angelica Ross. "We, as a country and as a global society, have lost touch with our humanity," she tells Cheddar.
Mike Corbat, head of the fourth biggest bank in the U.S. with $1.84 trillion in assets, said that, while many of the current trade agreements in place need to be updated to reflect the modern economy, it's 'unfortunate' that progress from other policies, like tax reform, could be hampered by the threat of trade wars.
Employees of big tech companies hold their leaders to a high moral standard and force them to speak out, says Dana Wollman, executive editor at Endgadget. Microsoft staff recently protested against letting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which has been criticized for its treatment of migrant children at the border, use the company's Azure cloud technology.
The president said he will sign an executive order as soon as Wednesday to prohibit officials from separating children and parents at the southern border, after days of standing by the zero tolerance policy. His changed stance may stem from national backlash in the political and private sectors, says Jack Crowe, news writer at the National Review.
President Trump on Tuesday again deflected blame for tearing apart families at the U.S. border and suggested deporting entire family units, and Republicans scrambled to come up with a legislative fix for the crisis.
The former president of Mexico, a long-time advocate of legalizing cannabis globally, joined the board of the cannabis culture company. Adam Levine, CEO of High Times, said his addition will lend support to its efforts.
Markets opened sharply lower on Tuesday after President Trump directed his administration to identify an additional $200 billion worth of Chinese goods that could be hit with taxes, upping the ante in the potential U.S.-China trade war. Trump's announcement comes in response to China's threats to retaliate against an original round of tariffs, targeting $50 billion worth of U.S. imports.
Suraj Patel, a former Obama campaign staffer, is trying to boost voter turnout in New York's 12th District by collaborating with coffee carts, taking workout classes with voters, and engaging with people on the streets. He's running to unseat 25-year incumbent Rep. Carolyn Maloney in the Democratic primary next week.
The president on Monday said the U.S. "will not be a migrant camp," responding to concern over families being separated at the southern border. Trump also blamed the situation on the Democrats because he realizes that the emotional images of children at processing centers are "unspinably bad right now," says Republican strategist Rick Wilson.
Google is investing $550 million in Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com. Now, JD.com products will be featured on Google's shopping service. JD.com is China's second largest e-commerce company, just behind Alibaba.
Audi CEO Rupert Stadler was arrested on Monday in Germany. Authorities detained him for fear that he would interfere with the ongoing investigation into Volkswagen over its emissions testing scandal. Volkswagen is the parent company of Audi.
Pressure is mounting on President Trump to end the zero-tolerance immigration policy that's separating children and parents at the border. Mike Allen, executive editor at Axios, weighs in on the controversy.
