Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump wants more than a wall to keep out immigrants living in the country illegally. He also wants to end “birthright citizenship” for their children, he said Sunday. And he would rescind Obama administration executive orders on immigration and toughen deportation, allowing in only “the good ones.”
Trump described his expanded vision of how to secure American borders during a wide-ranging interview Sunday on NBC’s “Meet The Press,” saying that he would push to end the constitutionally protected citizenship rights of children of any family living illegally inside the U.S.
“They have to go,” Trump said, adding: “What they’re doing, they’re having a baby. And then all of a sudden, nobody knows…the baby’s here.”
Native-born children of immigrants — even those living illegally in the U.S. — have been automatically considered American citizens since the adoption of the 14th amendment of the U.S. Constitution in 1868.
The odds of repealing the amendment’s citizenship clause would be steep, requiring the votes of two-thirds of both houses of Congress and support from three-fourths of the nation’s state legislatures. Republicans in Congress have pushed without success to repeal that provision since 2011.
“They’re illegal,” Trump said, describing native-born children of people living illegally in the US. “You either have a country or not.”
Trump’s remarks came as his campaign website posted his program for “immigration reform.” Among its details: Making Mexico pay for a permanent border wall. Mandatory deportation of all “criminal aliens.” Tripling the force of immigration officers by eliminating tax credit payments to immigrant families residing illegally in the U.S.
He said that families with U.S.-born children could return quickly if deemed worthy by the government. “We’re going to try and bring them back rapidly, the good ones,” he said, adding: “We will expedite it so people can come back in. The good people can come back.”
Trump did not elaborate on how he would define “good people.” But echoing earlier controversial remarks that Mexico was sending criminals across the border, Trump said a tough deportation policy was needed because “there’s definitely evidence” of crimes linked to immigrants living in the country illegally.
The New York businessman also said he would waste little time rescinding President Barack Obama’s executive actions aimed at allowing as many as 3.7 million immigrants living illegally in the U.S. to remain in the country because of their U.S.-born relatives. Obama’s November 2014 actions were halted by temporary injunctions ordered by several federal courts in rulings challenging his executive powers to alter immigration policies without Congressional approval. The cases could lead to the U.S. Supreme Court.
“We have to make a whole new set of standards,” Trump said. “And when people come in, they have to come in legally.”
On Sunday, Ohio Gov. John Kasich echoed Trump’s call to finish construction of an incomplete system of barriers on the nation’s southern border with Mexico. There are still gaps in the barriers, which have been under construction since 2005.
Speaking on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” Kasich said he would “finish the wall” but would then work to legalize 12 million immigrants now estimated to live in the U.S. illegally. Kasich said he would “make sure we don’t have anybody — any of the criminal element here.” He would also revive the guest-worker programs that previously brought in temporary workers to aid in farming and other industries hobbled by labor shortages.
Most other GOP candidates also back completing the border wall but differ over how to treat immigrant families already living in the U.S. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush recently released his own immigration plan calling for the use of forward bases and drones to guard the border, but also backing an eventual plan to legalize the status of immigrant families. Bush disagrees with Obama’s use of executive actions to unilaterally enforce the policy.
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio worked with senators from both parties to develop a comprehensive plan in 2013 that would have legalized the status of many immigrant families. But Congress balked at the idea as tea party Republicans opposed the deal and Rubio has since backed away from his support.
(AP)
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19 Responses
For this issue alone, he has just now lost my vote in the primaries.
Someone born in USA is a US Citizen! Period! This is an infallible reality of USA life! Period!
At least Trump should be talking about terrorists born in USA, instead of children of devastated parents who fled for their lives to USA..
Huh he is saying illegally. He is 100% right why is the world would I want my tax money to go to some people who came here iLLEGALLY let them cone here legally and I will be perfectly fine with it.
Sorry 147, you’re not aware of the spike in crime in Lakewood since Mexicans moved in. Rapes burglaries and more. Get rid of them with no citizenship or other excuses. For this alone I’d elect trump. Born in America should not automatically mean citizenship.
When I think of immigrants I think of Jewish refugees escaping national persecution and running from country to country, often illegally. It can always happen again.
Amen Donald! No more anchor babies!
To 147: while you are free of course to vote any way you wish, please realize that the 14th amendment was not brought down from Har Sinai. It was passed nearly 150 years ago in response to a specific need or desire to confer U.S. citizenship on freed African slaves. Without U.S. citizenship, they would all have been effectively stateless people. But to extrapolate from that situation to people who are breaking the law by entering illegally into the U.S., often having planned a pregnancy so a woman would give birth after having illegally crossed over? Why on earth do such babies deserve automatic U.S. citizenship? And then that automatic conferring of citizenship then extends to the parents (at least to the mother), automatically granting her clemency for a crime she committed by entering illegally into the U.S.! They are not otherwise stateless, like the slaves freed after the Civil War. They are citizens of Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, or other countries. You want to immigrate? GET IN LINE like everyone else. Just like most of our grandparents or great-grandparents had to do when they came over from Europe a century ago. I know that’s what my grandparents did!
Jus soli is so well established in American law that expelling American citizens because their parents papers aren’t in order is at the same level of realism has reintroducing slavery or establishing a monarchy. The matter was debated and settled 150 years ago.
Appealing to Nativism is bad politics since most Americans are non-WASP and descended from recent immigrants. The only people with deep routes in America are kept on reservations.
Trump annoys the Wall Street (Country Club) Republicans. His long term support for corporate welfare annoys the Tea party. His bigotry makes him an enemy of the “religious right”. The reason Carson is running second is he appeals to all the core groups in the Republican party, and annoys none of them, and appeals for national unity rather than anger at those one disagrees with.
#1, so you are in favor of illegal Immigration then. Why reward a Criminal with Citizenship for their Children? If you want to stop the influx of illegals, you make the penalty severe enough so that they think twice about it.
Trump has my vote.
147,
From your comment it’s clear he never had your vote. The insane rule of any baby born in the US becomes a citizen whether here legally or not is obviously disastrous and foolish. It was foisted on us by one of the supreme court justices pushing it into another decision. It needs to be rescinded as soon as possible.
This is like a Mitzva Haba’ah B’Aveira.
For this issue alone, Trump has won my vote.
It makes no sense whatsoever that the child of an illegal is an automatic American.
Anyone who believes otherwise, is a nogei’a b’davar.
America has been overrun by foreigners. This country was founded by good people of British stock, true to traditional Protestant ideals, and has been overrun by a bunch of foreigners who don’t think or act or look like Americans. Time to go back to the status quo ante.
note: before you agree, look in a mirror and ask yourself if you really think you are a good WASP
@11.
I agree with the message of your message.
@6 Well said!
“This country was founded by good people of British stock, true to traditional Protestant ideals”
Yeah, traditional Protestant ideals that included excluding Jews from the country. You did learn in your yeshiva secular studies that England expelled all Jews in 1290 and we were not allowed back in for 365 years — the original English colonies were set up by a country that was as Judenrein as Nazi Germany!
You probably also learned in your yeshiva secular studies that Florida, Texas, New Mexico, and California were settled by Catholics from Spain, right? And you did learn that Louisiana and a good part of the midwest was settled by Catholics from France — St. Louis is named for the French King who burned the Talmud!
And you probably learned in your yeshiva secular studies that there were a lot of people here before these Europeans foreigners arrived, right?
“before you agree, look in a mirror and ask yourself if you really think you are a good WASP”
Precisely the problem. If you were to look at Europe prior to the rise of Fascism and Nazism, the two countries that you would have said had the worst history with Jews would have been England and Russia. That so many frum Jews are now identifying with WASP nativist bigots proves that religious observance is no barrier to immigration. We are turning into Protestants who don’t worship Jesus and keep kosher. 🙁
Assimilation, not immigration. My bad.
“It makes no sense whatsoever that the child of an illegal is an automatic American.
Anyone who believes otherwise, is a nogei’a b’davar.”
It is one of the basic principles of the Constitution. If you don’t like the US Constitution you are free to leave. I understand that Mexico is accepting immigrants. Oops, it has exactly the same citizenship law in ITS Constitution.
“automatically granting her clemency for a crime she committed by entering illegally into the U.S.!”
Actually it is only in rare circumstances that it is a crime to be in the US illegally — basically, only if you have previously been deported because of a criminal conviction. Most often it is a civil violation, like a parking ticket. Would you like it if your citizenship were revoked because your parents had a parking ticket?
Charlie 14,
The people who came here were escaping tyranny. Those that are being let in now without any surveillance include criminals, terrorist, moochers and those sick with diseases that can’t be cured. Is that what you’re in favor of?
Charlie 15,
Do you approve of the mass immigration of Muslims who have no desire to integratre with the country very many of which are terrorists or terrorist supporters and violent anti Semites?
Charlie 17,
In no way is it an understood part of the constitution that any child born here by freak accident or villainy should automatically be a citizen. The simple understanding of the Constitution is that children of citizens and naturalized immigrants that are beneficial to the country and not dangerous shuld be citizens and no one else.
Charlie 18,
Entering our country to milk the hard labor of its citizens by overwhelming the welfare rolls and flooding the emergency rooms and getting everything for free at then expense of honest and hard working Americans is a significant drain on the hard working people of the country and a major security risk as well.