Former President Donald Trump is vowing to curtail who would qualify for birthright citizenship.
In a video posted on Twitter on Tuesday, Trump accused President Joe Biden of launching an “illegal foreign invasion of our country.”
He noted children of illegal immigrants born in the United States are eligible for citizenship.
“This policy is a reward for breaking the laws of the United States and is obviously a magnet helping draw the flood of illegals across our border,” Trump insisted.
He argued the policy is based on a “historical myth and a willful misinterpretation of the law.”
Watch the video below:
#AGENDA47: President Trump’s plan to discourage illegal immigration by ENDING automatic citizenship for the children of illegal aliens. pic.twitter.com/3iytgg45st
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) May 30, 2023
Trump went on:
“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 children of illegal aliens will not receive automatic U.S. citizenship. It’s things like this that bring millions of people to our country, and they enter our country illegally.”
He added, “My 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… Nobody could afford this, nobody could do this, and even morally it’s so wrong.”
Additionally, the former president insisted his policy will end “birth tourism” where he said “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.”
Going forward, Trump said his policy would require that at least one parent is a citizen or a legal resident for a child to receive citizenship.
Trump previously sought to limit birthright citizenship.
In 2018, he shared with Axios that he was planning on signing an executive order preventing children of illegal immigrants born in the U.S. from receiving citizenship. But he faced criticism for his comments.
In 2019, Trump said he was “seriously” considering ending the policy, even as there was a debate over whether it was legal for him to do so.
And again in 2020, his administration floated the idea of ending birthright citizenship. But no action was officially taken.
