South Carolina Republican Representative Mark Sanford ruffled many feathers when he commented during a discussion on MSNBC that babies born in the U.S. from places like Haiti, shouldn’t be awarded birthright citizenship because the 14th Amendment was only intended to apply to descendants of slaves.
“What do you make of the suggestion that birthright citizenship can be revoked with the stroke of a pen?” MSNBC host Craig Melvin asked the South Carolina Republican.
“I would find that hard to believe,” Sanford replied. “I’m not a fan of birthright citizenship. But I think it’s much more complex than the stroke of a pen.”
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Sanford went on to say, “The idea that you just happen to come in from Haiti or anywhere else and because you get your boat to shore, all the sudden you are open to the same rights and privileges that anybody else is, I think that’s at odds with the intent,” “I think it was ultimately about slavery at that time and rights that should come to former slaves. But we’ll leave that to legal experts,” as reported by RawStory.
“We’re the only country in the world where a person comes in, has a baby, and the baby is essentially a citizen of the United States for 85 years with all of those benefits. It’s ridiculous. It’s ridiculous. And it has to end.”
This was the answer U.S. President Donald Trump gave in regard to ending the right to U.S citizenship to children born on U.S. soil to parents who are not citizens.
He was speaking to Axios in an interview, whose clips were aired today ahead of the full broadcast on Sunday, where he said he has already consulted with White House’s counsel on the matter.
“It was always told to me that you needed a constitutional amendment. Guess what? You don’t. You can definitely do it with an act of Congress. But now they’re saying I can do it just with an executive order,” Trump said.
According to the U.S. Constitution, children born in the U.S. and its territories to non-citizens or immigrants parents have the right to become citizens. The amendment was made 150 years ago to state that “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”
This is Trump’s new anti-immigrant move, which joins a list of many others including ending the DACA program, instituting a travel ban, blocking ‘non-professional’ immigrants from entering the U.S. and restricting legal immigration.
The president did not say when he would sign the order, but many are questioning the timing of the announcement, comes just days before the midterm elections slotted for November 6. But one thing for sure for him is: “It’s in the process. It’ll happen with an executive order.”
