Twice-impeached and twice-indicted former President Donald Trump isn’t the only 2024 Republican who is running in 2024 and promising to end birthright citizenship. Ron DeSantis is joining him in an authoritarian mockery of “power” in his own bid for the presidency.
Speaking in Eagle Pass, Texas, from a podium with the words, “No Excuses” and “Stop the Invasion” this week, the Florida Governor promised to end birthright citizenship, which is part of the Citizenship Clause in the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution aka the thing they both often proclaim to “unhold.”
“I have listened to people in D.C. for years and years and years, going back decades — Republicans and Democrats — always chirping about this yet never actually bringing the issue to a conclusion,” DeSantis said per the Associated Press. “What we’re saying is no excuses on this.”
DeSantis added: “If somebody were breaking into your house to do something bad, you would respond with force. Yet why don’t we do that at the southern border? So, if the cartels are cutting through the border wall, trying to run product into this country, they’re going to end up stone-cold dead as a result of that bad decision. And if you do that one time, you’re not going to see them mess with our wall ever again.”
DeSantis’ plan mirrors much of what Trump is proposing, including an amendment to the U.S. Constitution. It’s being reported that Trump watched DeSantis’ speech in Texas on TV and described it as “a total waste of time.”
In late May, Trump said the 14th Amendment was “a reward for breaking the laws of the United States and is obviously a magnet helping draw the flood of illegals across our borders.”
He also described the 14th Amendment as a “misinterpretation of the law by open-border advocates” and vowed on Day 1 of his second term to use an executive order to instruct federal agencies to stop the lawful act.
Both Ron DeSantis and Donald Trump would have a huge legal battle in front of them if they were to truly come for birthright citizenship. To learn more about birthright citizenship, visit the National Constitution Center or read more about the 14th Amendment via Congress.