Trump vows to end ‘crazy’ policy
SAYS WITH ENLARGED REPUBLICAN CONGRESSIONAL MAJORITIES HE WOULD ACHIEVE HIS IMMIGRATION PRIORITIES
President Donald Trump introduced the polarising issue of birthright citizenship as a central plank of his closing argument to voters here on Wednesday night as he began his final campaign sprint to Election Day.
Trump said illegal immigration was the driving issue of the midterm elections and vowed that with enlarged Republican congressional majorities he would achieve his immigration priorities, including eliminating the constitutional right to citizenship for those born in the United States to undocumented immigrant parents.
The president spoke at length about birthright citizenship, which he called “this crazy policy” that he said allowed “hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrant children” born on US soil to automatically become US citizens and therefore eligible for every privilege and benefit of citizenship.
“Birthright citizenship — you know all about it — we will keep the criminals, the drug dealers, we will keep them all out of our country,” Trump said. “We will get rid of all of this. We will end, finally, birthright citizenship. It’s costing us so many billions of dollars.”
Executive order
Trump said this week that he was considering signing an executive order ending birthright citizenship, though he acknowledged earlier o Wednesday that it was likely to result in a legal challenge that could go all the way to the Supreme Court.
Most legal scholars — as well as House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis. — have said the president does not have the power to eliminate the policy with the stroke of his pen because it is a constitutional right spelt out in the 14th Amendment.
But Trump argued otherwise during his rollicking campaign rally at a Florida sports arena.
“The Constitution does not require it,” the president said, because “illegal aliens are not subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.”
The standing crowd of several thousand roared with approval.
Trump has focused on the issue of immigration in the home stretch of the campaign as part of a strategy to stoke fear and galvanise his core supporters to turn out in support of Republican candidates for the Senate, House and governorships.