Donald Trump has singlehandedly changed the standard for what it takes to be considered conservative on immigration, as one GOP presidential contender after another joins his call to end birthright citizenship.

Seemingly settled more than a century ago with the passage of the 14th Amendment and an 1898 Supreme Court ruling, the policy that automatically grants citizenship to basically anyone born on U.S. soil is suddenly driving a rift through the 2016 GOP presidential field — and triggering heartburn among conservative figures concerned about a backlash from Latinos in the general election.

Though some of Trump’s more mainstream Republican opponents, such as former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, have quickly distanced themselves from the business mogul’s stance, several other prominent candidates, including Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, have embraced it.

And that’s distressingly bad news to conservatives who say the spectacle is setting up the party for a repeat of Mitt Romney’s dismal showing among Latino voters in 2012. The division within the GOP over whether to provide immigrants here illegally with a pathway to citizenship has given way to a new litmus test on the right.

“It’s a terrible idea. It’s a politically insane idea. It can’t be done. It’s impossible to achieve,” said Peter Wehner, senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center and former official in the George W. Bush White House. “So what’s the point? It’s symbolism and it’s exactly the wrong kind of symbolism. If Republicans want to make this their symbol … they’ll pay a high price for it.”

All told, the 17-candidate GOP field is about evenly divided among those who want to overturn the 14th Amendment and those who believe it should be left alone.

In addition to Bush and Rubio, Ohio Gov. John Kasich has also indicated he opposes ending birthright citizenship to U.S.-born children of undocumented immigrants, although he backed a constitutional amendment in 2010 to change the 14th Amendment. He’s acknowledged that he’s reversed his position.

Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina said instead of changing the Constitution, the focus should be on reforming the immigration system. Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry said in 2011 that potential abuse of the United States birthright citizenship policy “probably” did not rise to the level of needing a constitutional amendment to reverse it.

In 2010, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said he would not support repealing parts of the 14th Amendment dealing with birthright citizenship, and he appeared to reflect that position in a CNN interview Tuesday, saying revoking birthright citizenship “would require some strong will” and noted that the United States has operated under that policy for decades. And long shots Jim Gilmore, the former Virginia governor, and ex-New York Gov. George Pataki also oppose ending birthright citizenship.

But there are plenty in the Republican field who support ending birthright citizenship.

Aside from Trump and Walker, GOP hopefuls such as retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal have come out in favor of ending birthright citizenship in recent days. Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum penned an op-ed in Breitbart News in May outlining his opposition to the policy.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) co-sponsored a resolution in 2011 that would allow those born in the United States to only become citizens if at least one parent was here legally. As for Cruz, a 2012 survey from Numbers USA — which backs stricter immigration policies — he was marked as supporting an end to birthright citizenship, and he underscored that position during an interview that aired Wednesday.

“We should end granting automatic birthright citizenship to the children of those who are here illegally,” Cruz told radio host Michael Medved.

And New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said in a radio interview last week that birthright citizenship should be “reexamined” and added: “While that may have made some sense at some point in our history, right now we need to re-look at all that.”

The one surprising position in the field is that of South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, an ardent backer of immigration reform who favors a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Graham nonetheless has long supported ending birthright citizenship, calling it a magnet for immigrants here illegally.

Libre Initiative Executive Director Daniel Garza, whose nonpartisan group is focused on promoting conservative principles among Latinos, says his organization “vehemently” opposes revoking birthright citizenship and called the issue a divisive one.

“The call to rescind birthright citizenship goes well beyond the call for ‘self-deportation,’” Garza said. “You are talking about a massive institutional revision. That is not gonna happen. But just driving that narrative is just going to split people.”

Data already show the GOP will have to make up considerable ground from Romney’s performance among Latinos in 2012, when the former Massachusetts governor lost the Latino vote to President Barack Obama by a whopping 44-point margin, according to exit polls.

The polling firm Latino Decisions projected in July that the Republican nominee will need to secure 47 percent of the Latino vote in November 2016 to win the popular vote — a 20-point boost from Romney’s showing in the last cycle.

And some Republicans believe a prolonged focus on birthright citizenship will severely damage that cause.

Alfonso Aguilar, a former official in the George W. Bush administration, said the birthright citizenship issue is flooding through Spanish-language media and added of Latinos: “This is what they’re hearing every day. They find it insulting.”

In particular, he pointed to Walker, a leading GOP hopeful who has already endorsed more conservative views on immigration than other mainstream Republicans, as a candidate who is “done” because of his support for ending birthright citizenship.

“He was already aligning himself with those who say legal immigration suppresses wages, and that was already toxic,” said Aguilar, who now runs the American Principles Project’s Latino Partnership, which advocates for conservative causes among Latinos. “But with this, I can guarantee you: He’s not going anywhere. He’s gonna be destroyed with Latinos.”

The political retribution against the GOP in the general election will be much more acute if Republicans nominate someone who’s embraced ending birthright citizenship, Wehner said. But if the nominee is someone who’s rejected the policy — like Bush or Rubio — that would lessen the damage, he added.

Democrats have pounded Republican candidates over birthright citizenship. In a memo sent to reporters Wednesday, the Democratic National Committee highlighted the depth of support for ending birthright citizenship among the GOP presidential contenders.

“Attacking and criminalizing children — let alone citizen children born to immigrant parents — is the lowest form of political buffoonery … even for the GOP,” read the memo from Pablo Manriquez, the DNC’s Hispanic media director.

Past polls have found that Americans are divided over whether birthright citizenship should be revoked. An August 2010 poll from CBS News found that 49 percent of Americans said the birthright citizenship policy should stay, while 47 percent said it should be changed.

About 4.1 million U.S. citizen children were born to undocumented immigrants, according to the Migration Policy Institute.

In an interview, Russell Moore, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, called the rise of the birthright citizenship debate “dark and demagogic.”

“The American people often disagree on what the best approach should be to fixing the immigration system,” Moore said. “But we have veered off now into a rhetorical targeting of immigrants themselves. The use of language such as ‘anchor babies’ is disgusting.”

Despite the criticism, Trump hasn’t relented from his views.

The businessman and GOP front-runner doubled down on his position Tuesday night during an interview with Fox News, insisting that children born to undocumented immigrants while on American grounds don’t have U.S. citizenship and arguing that his view would prevail in court.

“I don’t think they have American citizenship, and if you speak to some very, very good lawyers — some would disagree,” Trump told Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly. “But many of them agree with me — you’re going to find they do not have American citizenship. We have to start a process where we take back our country. Our country is going to hell. We have to start a process, Bill, where we take back our country.”

The persistent focus on birthright citizenship is infuriating to those like Garza, who’s worked to promote conservative causes among the broader Latino community.

“You are talking about withholding equal opportunity from people because of what their parents did,” Garza said. “That is yeah … you know.”

He then sighed.

“Sometimes there are no words to express,” Garza added. “When you hear something like that, it’s gone beyond the pale.”