(The Center Square) – Republican presidential candidates Vivek Ramaswamy and U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C. said during Wednesday’s debate they would work to end birthright citizenship in the U.S. if elected.
Any child born in the United States is automatically a citizen. Ramaswamy and Scott said they would not allow the children of immigrants in the country illegally to automatically become U.S. citizens.
Ramaswamy, a 38-year-old businessman who is the son of Indian immigrants, said it shouldn’t continue.
“I favor ending birthright citizenship for the kids of illegal immigrants in this country,” he said during the debate at the Ronald Regan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California. “Now the left will howl about the Constitution and the 14th Amendment. The difference between me and them is I’ve actually read the 14th Amendment. What it says is that all persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the laws and jurisdiction thereof are citizens. So nobody believes that the kid of a Mexican diplomat in this country enjoys birthright citizenship, not a judge or legal scholar in this country.”
Scott, a 58-year-old who has been in the Senate since 2013, appeared to side with Ramaswamy on the issue saying of the 14th Amendment: “I think it’s simple that clearly it was designed for slavery, and not for illegal immigration.”
Former President Donald Trump, a 77-year-old who skipped both GOP debates, said in 2018 that he would sign an executive order ending birthright citizenship for the children of illegal immigrants, but did not do so. In May, Trump said he would end birthright citizenship on the first day of his presidency if elected to another term.
Some legal scholars have said any such change would run afoul of the U.S. Constitution.
Under the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment, “all 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.”
