It looks like former U.S. Senator Harry Reid will have to eat his words…
That is because a 1993 video has surfaced in which Reid adamantly expresses a view on citizenship that would be popular among many of today’s Republicans.
Meanwhile, President Trump said the other day that he is seriously considering the signing of an executive order that would outlaw birthright citizenship, that is, the policy whereby anyone born in the U.S. is automatically a U.S. citizen, whether that baby has a parent who is a U.S. citizen or is in the U.S. legally – or not.
“It was always told to me that you needed a constitutional amendment. Guess what? You don’t,” the president said. “You can definitely do it with an act of Congress. But now they’re saying I can do it just with an executive order…We’re the only country in the world where a person comes in and has a baby, and the baby is essentially a citizen of the United States…with all of those benefits. It’s ridiculous. It’s ridiculous. And it has to end.”
As anyone could have been expected, Trump’s stance on the issue caused a backlash. There were comments from his opposition that Trump was attempting to “fan the flames of anti-immigrant” hate. And probably because the midterm elections are almost upon us, Trump’s opponents also said he was working hard to “incite his base.”
“This is a blatantly unconstitutional attempt to fan the flames of anti-immigrant hatred in the days ahead of the midterms,” the ACLU wrote on Twitter. “The 14th Amendment’s citizenship guarantee is clear. You can’t erase the Constitution with an executive order, @realDonaldTrump.”
Hawaii Senator Mazie Hirono also chimed in.
“The 14th Amendment confers U.S. citizenship to persons born in the United States,” the lawmaker added. “To incite his base, @realDonaldTrump wants to change the Constitution by fiat. Ours is a country governed by rule of law and Donald Trump is not king.”
Amidst all that furor from Democrats, support for Trump’s stance emerged from an unlikely source. That is the 1993 video in which Reid (D-NV) clearly spoke out in agreement with what Trump is saying now.
“If making it easy to be an illegal alien isn’t enough, how about offering a reward for being an illegal immigrant? No sane country would do that, right? Guess again,” Reid is shown saying in the video. “If you break our laws by entering this country without permission and give birth to a child, we reward that child with U.S. citizenship and guarantee a full access to all public and social services that this society provides, and that’s a lot of services.”
As has been said again and again, people who want to come to the United States should do so legally, as scores of people have willingly done in the past and still do. Being a U.S. citizen is not a right. It is a great privilege.
Watch the video below for a flashback of when Democrats at least pretended to have common sense.
~ Liberty Planet
