Donald Trump, the president-elect, stated that he still intends to abolish birthright citizenship in the US on day one, but he was unable to elaborate on how he would circumvent the 14th Amendment.
It will be necessary for us to modify it. Trump stated, “We’re going to have to get it changed. We’ll maybe have to go back to the people,” during an interview with Kristen Welker on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that aired recently. He added, “But we have to end it.”
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Additionally, Trump made the untrue claim that only the US offers birthright citizenship, even though other nations like Canada and Brazil do as well.
Welker inquired as to whether Trump will use executive action to terminate birthright citizenship. In response, Trump said: “If we can, through executive action.”
“I was going to do it through executive action but then we had to fix Covid first, to be honest with you,” Trump stated. “We have to end it. It’s ridiculous.”
After being enacted in 1868, the 14th Amendment declares: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States.” A constitutional amendment must be ratified by three-fourths of the states after being adopted by Congress.
In addition, Trump stated in the interview that he intended to “work something out” with Dreamers—children who came to the United States with their families when they were very young and have subsequently grown up here.
“We have to do something about the Dreamers because these are people that have been brought here at a very young age,” Trump noted. “And many of these are middle-aged people now. They don’t even speak the language of their country. And yes, we’re going to do something about the Dreamers.”
In addition, Trump stated that he would collaborate with Democrats on a Dreamers proposal, but that they have “made it very, very difficult to do anything” and that President Joe Biden ought to have taken action on the issue over the previous four years. (Earlier this year, attempts at bipartisan immigration reform in the Senate failed because of Trump’s resistance.
He noted, “Republicans are very open to Dreamers.”
“I think we can work with the Democrats and work something out,” Trump stated.
Regarding Dreamers, he continued, “They’ve become successful. They have great jobs. In some cases, they have small businesses. In some cases, they might have large businesses. And we’re going to have to do something with them.”
However, when questioned if he still intends to deport all people who are in the country illegally and about his plans for mass deportation, Trump responded, “I think you have to do it.” He stated that he would begin with those who have a criminal record before branching out.
“It’s a hard – it’s a very tough thing to do. But you have to have rules, regulations, laws. They came in illegally. You know the people that have been treated very unfairly are the people that have been on line for ten years to come into the country,” Trump noted. “And we’re going to make it very easy for people to come in in terms of they have to pass the test.”
He continued, “They have to be able to tell you what the Statue of Liberty is. They have to tell you a little bit about our country. They have to love our country. They can’t come out of prisons.”
Republicans have stated that they anticipate Trump addressing immigration right away.
Trump will address immigration as soon as he enters office, according to Sen.-elect Bernie Moreno, a former luxury auto salesman who upset Democrat Sherrod Brown in Ohio.
During a Christmas luncheon, Moreno spoke to a group of Illinois Republicans, “we’re going to resolve immigration the first 40 to 60 days.”
Moreno is the first Latino U.S. senator from Ohio and was born in Colombia, “we’ve got to fix immigration. This election was ultimately about two issues at the end of the day: open borders and high prices. That was the entire election, and we got to fix the immigration system. It’s the easiest thing to fix intellectually. It’s the hardest thing to fix emotionally, and I hope to play a role in making that happen.”
