Jessica
Corbett
Progressives
in Congress and other migrant rights advocates sharply criticized U.S.
President-elect Donald Trump for his comments on immigration during a Sunday
interview, including on his hopes to end birthright citizenship.
During
a 76-minute interview with NBC News' Kristen Welker, Trump said he
"absolutely" intends to end birthright citizenship, potentially
through executive order, despite the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Among many lies the Republican told, he also falsely claimed that the United
States is the only country to offer citizenship by birth; in fact, there are
dozens.
In
response, outgoing Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal
(D-Wash.) said on social media Monday: "This is completely un-American.
The 14th Amendment guarantees birthright citizenship. Trump cannot unilaterally
end it, and any attempt to do so would be both unconstitutional and
immoral."
Congresswoman
Gwen Moore (D-Wis.) similarly stressed that "birthright citizenship is
enshrined in the Constitution as a cornerstone of American ideals. It reflects
our belief that America is the land of opportunity. Sadly, this is just another
in the long line of Trump's assault on the U.S. Constitution."
Rep.
Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.), the daughter of Guatemalan immigrants, said in a
statement: "'Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning
to breathe free.' It is important to remember who we are, where many of us came
from, and why many of our families traveled here to be greeted by the Mother of
Exiles, the Statue of Liberty."
Ramirez
argued that "the story of our nation wouldn't be complete without the
sweat, tears, joy, dreams, and hopes of so many children of immigrants who are
citizens by birthright and pride themselves on being AMERICANS. It is the story
of so many IL-03 communities, strengthened by the immigration of people from
Poland, Ukraine, Italy, Mexico, and Guatemala, among others. It is the story of
many members of Congress who can point to the citizenship of their forebears
and ancestors because of immigration and birthright."
"Let's
be clear: Trump is posing the question of who gets to be an American to our
nation. And given that today's migrants are from Africa, Asia, the Caribbean,
and Latin and Central America, it is clear he is questioning who are the
'right' people to benefit from birthright citizenship," she continued.
"Questioning birthright citizenship is anti-American, and eliminating it
through executive action is unconstitutional. Donald Trump knows that."
"But
emboldened by a Supreme Court that would use its power to uphold white
supremacy rather than the Constitution of our nation, Trump is on a mission to
weaken the very soul of our nation," she warned. "I—like many sons
and daughters of immigrants and first-generation Americans—believe in and fight
for a land of freedom, opportunities, and equality. To live into that promise,
we must stand against white nationalism—especially when it is espoused at the
highest levels of government."
Although
Republicans are set to control both the U.S. Senate and the House of
Representatives next year, amending the Constitution requires support from
two-thirds of both chambers of Congress and three-fourths of the state
legislatures, meaning that process is unlikely to be attempted for this policy.
Rep.
Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.) highlighted the difficulties of passing
constitutional amendments while discussing Trump in a Monday appearance on CNN.
The incoming chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus was born in the
Dominican Republic and is the first formerly undocumented immigrant elected to
Congress.
As
Mother Jones reporter Isabela Dias detailed Monday:
Critics of ending
birthright citizenship for the U.S.-born children of undocumented immigrants
argue it would not only constitute bad policy, but also a betrayal of American
values and, as one scholar put it to me, a "prelude" to mass
deportation.
"It's really 100
years of accepted interpretation," Hiroshi Motomura, a scholar of
immigration and citizenship at UCLA's law school, told me of birthright
citizenship. Ending birthright citizenship would cut at the core of the
hard-fought assurance of equal treatment under the law, he said,
"basically drawing a line between two kinds of American citizens."
Trump's
NBC interview also addressed his long-promised mass deportations. The
president-elect—whose first administration was globally condemned for
separating migrant families at the southern border and second administration is
already filling up with hard-liners—suggested Sunday that he would deport
children who are U.S. citizens with undocumented parents.
"I
don't want to be breaking up families, so the only way you don't break up the
family is you keep them together and you have to send them all back,"
Trump told Welker.
Responding
in a Monday statement, America's Voice executive director Vanessa Cárdenas
said, "There's a growing consensus that the Trump mass deportation agenda
will hit American consumers and industries hard, but the scope of what Trump
and his team are proposing goes well beyond the economic impact."
"Trump
and allies are making clear their mass deportation agenda will include
deporting U.S. citizens, including children, while aiming to gut a century and
a half of legal and moral precedent on birthright citizenship," she added.
"In total, their attacks go well beyond the narrow lens of immigration to
the fundamental question of who gets to be an American."
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