Since 2016 GOP Presidential Hopeful, Donald Trump, released his immigration plan last weekend that called for ending Birthright Citizenship, many of the other presidential hopefuls have been asked to declare if they support or oppose ending birthright citizenship. Here is a list of what the other 2016 presidential hopefuls have said this week about the issue.
Those Who Support Ending Birthright Citizenship:
Rand Paul:
In 2011 Rand Paul supported a constitutional amendment to clarify the 14th Amendment proposed by Sen. David Vitter. “This resolution makes clear that under the 14th Amendment a person born in the United States to illegal aliens does not automatically gain citizenship,” Sen. Rand Paul said.
Rick Santorum:
In May 2015, Sen. Santorum published an op-ed for Breitbart saying, “Other enticements to illegal immigration, such as birthright citizenship, should be ended.”
Chris Christie:
In a radio interview with Laura Ingraham about a week before Trump released his proposal, Gov. Christie commented, “while [birthright citizenship] may have made sense at some point in our history, right now, we need to relook at all that. And it has to be relooked at in respect to the rule of law.”
Lindsey Graham:
On Monday in an interview with NBC News' Kelly O'Donnell Sen. Graham said, "I am not a big fan of the idea that you come and have a child, you are automatically a citizen."
Bobby Jindal:
In response to Trump's immigration plan, Gov. Bobby Jindal tweeted "We need to end birthright citizenship for illegal immigrants".
Scott Walker:
When asked if we should end birthright citizenship by MSNBC's Kasie Hunt on Monday, Gov. Walker replied, "Yeah, to me it's about enforcing the laws in this country". He later seemed to back peddle a little saying he emphasized with the people who are concerned about this issue but wanted to focus on securing the border. He then explained his position to Bloomberg Politics saying, "This is where he is: We have to enforce the laws, keep people from coming here illegally, enforce e-verify to stop the jobs magnet, and by addressing the root problems we will end the birthright citizenship problem."
Ted Cruz:
In a radio interview on Wednesday Sen. Cruz said that he agreed with "virtually every element" of Trump's immigration plan, including birthright citizenship. “We should end granting automatic birthright citizenship to the children of those who are here illegally," said Cruz.
Those Who Oppose Ending Birthright Citizenship:
Marco Rubio:
This past Tuesday Sen. Rubio said he did not agree with Trump's plan or ending birthright citizenship. "I'm open to doing things that prevent people who deliberately come to the U.S. for purposes of taking advantage of the 14th Amendment, but I'm not in favor of repealing it," he stated.
Jeb Bush:
On Tuesday Former Gov. Jeb Bush opposes Trump's immigration plan including birthright citizenship. "Mr. Trump can say he's for this because people are frustrated that it's abused. We ought to fix the problem rather than take away rights that are constitutionally endowed," he responded.
George Pataki:
On Tuesday former Gov. Pataki made his stance very clear saying, "I don't support amending the Constitution to kick out kids who were born here."
Carly Fiornia:
While Fiorina agreed with parts of Trump's immigration plan she said on Monday that, "It would take passing a constitutional amendment to get that changed. This is part of the 14th amendment. And, so, honestly I think we should put all of our energies, all of our political will over finally getting the border secured and fixing the legal immigration system."
John Kasich:
In 2010 Kasich supported amending the Constitution to end birthright citizenship. Yet, on Tuesday he admitted that he had changed his position because the issue was too dividing for the American people. "I think it remains dividing to people....I think we need to get over that. I'm not for it anymore. Let these people who are born here be citizens and that's the end of it. I don't want to dwell there anymore," he said.
Donald Trump's immigration plan also included a nation wide mandate for E-verify, a call to increase ICE officers, a pause in issuing new green cards where employers will have to hire unemployed American workers, as well as completing a visa tracking system to hold immigrants that overstay their visa accountable.
In his proposal Donald Trump said that birthright citizenship, "remains the biggest magnet for illegal immigration."
Trump's plan has re-sparked the debate as to whether or not the 14th Amendment applies to illegal aliens or only to American citizens, for more information on this debate check out Roy Beck's blog at:
Birthright Citizenship is one of the issues Numbers USA uses to grade a presidential candidate on our 2016 Presidential Grade Card. You can view the full 2016 Presidential Grid here:
https://www.numbersusa.com/content/elections/races/presidential/2016-presidential-hopefuls.html
