Fox News anchor calls birthright citizenship a “loophole”
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From the December 9, 2024, edition of Fox News' America's Newsroom
BILL HEMMER (FOX ANCHOR): Trump did a long interview on NBC, Meet The Press. Here is a question about birthright citizenship, something that hasn't come up a ton, but it has now. Watch.
[CLIP BEGINS]
KRISTEN WELKER (MEET THE PRESS ANCHOR): You promised to end birthright citizenship on day one. Is that still your plan?
DONALD TRUMP (PRESIDENT-ELECT): Yeah. Absolutely.
...
We're the only country that has it. Do you know, if somebody sets a foot just a foot, one foot, you don't need two, on our land. Congratulations, you are now a citizen of the United States of America. Yes. We're gonna end that because it's ridiculous.
WELKER: Through executive action?
TRUMP: Well, if we can, through executive action. I was going to do it through executive action.
[CLIP ENDS]
HEMMER: Take it to Congress too.
KAYLEIGH MCENANY (FOX CO-HOST): Yeah you heard him say if we can. That's because birthright citizenship is enshrined in the 14th Amendment. Not only that, in 1898 in a Supreme Court case called Wong Kim Ark they upheld birthright citizenship. In other words, there is constitutional precedent, there's Supreme Court precedent. You can try via executive action but I think there are going to be some very big court hang-ups that might not go the way of the administration on birthright citizenship.
HEMMER: It's been a loophole when it comes to immigration.
DANA PERINO (FOX ANCHOR): Yeah. Oh, it is. And I've gone back and forth because I love the Constitution! I'm an originalist. But then I also want — I would love to hear what this court thinks about that. Because they are originalists when it comes to the Constitution and see if that precedent would hold up.