ThinkProgress
By Emily Atkin
August 12, 2015
Republican
presidential candidate and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is calling
for a reexamination of constitutional policy that grants citizenship to
all children born
to undocumented immigrants on United States soil.
In
a radio appearance on Wednesday, conservative host Laura Ingraham asked
Christie for his opinion on birthright citizenship, a topic he does not
seem to have specifically
addressed before. In response, Christie said he believed the policy may
be outdated.
“I
think all this stuff needs to be reexamined in light of the current
circumstances,” he said. “[Birthright citizenship] may have made sense
at some point in our history,
but right now, we need to re-look at all that.”
Under
the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, “[a]ll persons born or
naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction
thereof, are citizens of the United
States and of the State wherein they reside.”
Though
Christie does not appear to have spoken expressly on the issue of
birthright citizenship before, he is particularly close with Sen. David
Vitter (R-LA), who is
known among other things for his repeated efforts to end the practice,
which he sees as encouraging “birth tourism.” Vitter has described
Christie as a “mentor.”
Christie
is not the only presidential candidate to express wariness about the
content of the 14th Amendment as it applies to children born of
undocumented immigrants.
During his Senate campaign, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said he thought the
practice of granting citizenship to U.S.-born immigrant children “should
stop,” and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) has called the policy “a
mistake.”
Ohio
Gov. John Kasich, also a contender for the Republican nomination, used
to oppose birthright citizenship — however, he recently changed his
position, saying he would
not include it in his immigration policy if elected president.
A
bill to end birthright citizenship is currently making its way through
the Senate, but none of the serious Republican presidential contenders
in the Senate have gone
on record supporting or opposing it, according to National Journal.
Birthright
citizenship can be a tricky subject for candidates seeking the
Republican nomination. As National Journal’s Lauren Fox explains,
Republicans “must appear tough
on illegal immigration” — however, a policy that essentially undoes a
key part of the Constitution “could undermine a candidate’s ability to
make inroads with the Latino community during the general election — a
constituency that the party desperately needs
to appeal to if it hopes to improve upon the 27 percent of the Latino
vote that Mitt Romney won in 2012.”
Christie
himself has gotten tougher on illegal immigration as he continues to
seek the Republican nomination. Though he used to support a pathway to citizenship for the
estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants living in America, he
recently recanted that position.
However,
on his Wednesday radio appearance, Christie avoided placing blame
solely on border security. Instead, he placed partial blame on the
business community, which
he said has been profiting off cheap, un-taxed labor.
“Some
in the Chamber of Commerce don’t want [immigration reform] because they
want cheaper labor,” he said. “That’s what’s encouraging the problem as
much as a porous
border.”
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