he can do both...
exec order immediately...
and then let congress screw around with it as much as they’d like
since the conferral of USA citizenship on ‘anchor babies’ is not authorized by law (at least nobody has cited any statute).....a future president will NOT be able to start conferring American citizenship on them by a new exec order)
imho
You are correct
His EO could simply cancel any mandates that the State department and DHS may have to recognize citizenship in these cases, things that were done with out justification
Then it would be up to Congress to enact “clarifying” legislation.
The Code of Federal Regulations is where the President can have an effect. For passports, it CFR Title 22, Sec. 51.42 that says
Persons born in the United States applying for a passport for the first time.
(a) Primary evidence of birth in the United States. A person born in the United States generally must submit a birth certificate. The birth certificate must show the full name of the applicant, the applicant's place and date of birth, the full name of the parent(s), and must be signed by the official custodian of birth records, bear the seal of the issuing office, and show a filing date within one year of the date of birth.
(b) Secondary evidence of birth in the United States. If the applicant cannot submit a birth certificate that meets the requirement of paragraph (a) of this section, he or she must submit secondary evidence sufficient to establish to the satisfaction of the Department that he or she was born in the United States. Secondary evidence includes but is not limited to hospital birth certificates, baptismal certificates, medical and school records, certificates of circumcision, other documentary evidence created shortly after birth but generally not more than 5 years after birth, and/or affidavits of persons having personal knowledge of the facts of the birth.
Note that nothing is there about the parents. It could simply be amended via the EO to mandate information about the parent's citizenship status.
Title 22 does talk about this, but mainly to verify that someone has the right to get a passport for a minor.