by Jack Phillips at theepochtimes.com
Former President Donald Trump is vowing to end birthright citizenship for illegal immigrants if he is reelected to a second term, echoing statements he made in 2018 about ending the longstanding policy.
“As part of my plan to secure the border on Day One of my new term in office, I will sign an executive order making clear to federal agencies that under the correct interpretation of the law, going forward the future children of illegal aliens will not receive automatic U.S. citizenship,” Trump said in a policy video released on social media on Tuesday.
The former president, who is leading by double digits over the nearest GOP challenger, said that his “policy will choke off a major incentive for continued illegal immigration, deter more migrants from coming, and encourage many of the aliens Joe Biden has unlawfully let into our country to go back to their home countries.” That policy, he argued, would “put America first” by blocking birthright citizenship, a version of was first enabled in 1868 under the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution.
Trump also targeted President Biden’s immigration policies, arguing that the current administration has unlawfully failed to secure the U.S.-Mexico border. Since taking office, Biden and White House officials have claimed that it was the Trump administration that imposed bad policies and has called on Congress to act.
“My order will also end the unfair practice known as birth tourism, where hundreds of thousands of people from all over the planet squat in hotels for their last few weeks of pregnancy to illegitimately and illegally obtain U.S. citizenship for the child,” Trump remarked. “Often to later exploit chain migration to jump the line and get green cards for themselves and their family members.”
Since Biden took over in early 2021, Republicans have criticized Biden for what they say is a dereliction of duty in securing the border. Meanwhile, the Federation for American Immigration Reform said that some 2.7 million illegal aliens were encountered during the 2022 fiscal year, while a total of 5.5 million have illegally entered since Biden took office.
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