At an event with Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) at the New College of Florida, Border Czar Tom Homan gave his take on birthright citizenship.
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NewsTranscript
00:00of history it means you really are on the right side of history the having
00:04said that though the incentives are a real issue and I think the biggest
00:07incentive and I'll go to you czar what about birthright citizenship I mean you
00:13just get across the border you get here and then you're and you're born here
00:17you're a citizen is that something that needs to change well say this is an
00:23enticement it's a magnet for more illegal immigration for example under
00:29President Obama a lot of families came across a lot of single females came
00:37across and Jay Johnson was the secretary at the time and I respect Jay Johnson
00:43didn't agree with him all the time but yeah his door is always open he heard me
00:47out right so despite all the hate on Trump President Obama approved a family
00:54operation where these family groups who've been ordered removed because they
00:57lost her case and 90% of people claim asylum at the border will end up with
01:02order removal because they simply don't qualify for asylum they're coming here
01:06for a better life I get that but they're not escaping fear and persecution from
01:09their home government because of the race religion political affiliation to
01:13make a fraudulent asylum claim so we had hundreds of family units that were
01:16already moved by the judge the Obama administration approved us to go look
01:20for these people and deport them we went looking for them 44% of these family
01:27units the the mother's already had a US citizen child or was pregnant with a US
01:32citizen child despite all the hate that's out there and people attacking
01:36this that is a driver for illegal immigration because they say illegal
01:39aliens don't take social benefits why argue with I've been doing this a long
01:42time to do but having US citizen increases the use of social services and
01:48it's it's a driver of illegal immigration birthright citizenship Russia
01:52and China the two biggest countries where they come here on a visa visit visa
01:56tourist visa and they're pregnant they have a US citizen child while they're
01:59here they're not here for the tourist or visitor here to have a child and become
02:04a US citizen so I think the Supreme Court finally needs to answer that
02:06question you know I'm not a lawyer but I can read I don't think it's clear that
02:11illegal alien that you know has a child in this country is automatically a US
02:16citizen when they talk to keep calling back to the Wong case the one was
02:20actually here under immigration control we they were here legally and they
02:26weren't citizens but they're here legally we're here under the control of
02:28the government so we'll see what Supreme Court says I hope the Supreme Court will
02:32decide the right way but I have seen the same fears you have but it's a driver
02:37really immigration and here's where I need to be people understand I know I
02:40got some haters out there and I'd love that because I'm not running a
02:45popularity contest when people saying this is just innocent illegal immigration
02:49there is no such thing because you wore my shoes for 34 years there's a whole
02:54under ugly underbelly of illegal immigration 31% of women make their
02:59journey get sexually assaulted fact well I'm talking to you right now women are
03:04being sexually assaulted as part of their fee to cross the border luckily
03:09because of President Trump and bored down 96% unless that's happening but
03:13illegal immigration is not a victimless crime I've done it for a long time and
03:19it's right way and wrong way to enter the greatest country on earth we got
03:23millions of people standing in line taking her test doing their background
03:26investigation paying the fees they're sitting in the backseat while millions
03:31of people in the Biden administration cheated the system they can claim their
03:35asylum seekers all they want okay they're seeking asylum well here's what
03:39you need to understand nearly 90% of everybody claims asylum our southern
03:43border end up with the order removal which is why we need to do a massive
03:48deportation operation everybody said well what a racist thing to say no when
03:52you have a massive illegal alien crisis on our southern border by the millions
03:57and we know 90% don't qualify for asylum people on the left can say they have a
04:03right to claim asylum they have a right to see a judge they have a right to due
04:06process and we made that happen but due process doesn't mean squat if the final
04:13decision the courts isn't carried out and executed that's what due process is
04:17so since 90% of millions of people came across the border be order removed those
04:21orders asked be executed if they're not executed and what the hell are we doing
04:25just shut down immigration court doesn't mean anything anymore take the board
04:29draw off the border we need to send a message to the whole world there's a
04:32right way and wrong way to come to this country there's a legal way to do it
04:37you want to be part of the greatest nation on earth breaking our law
04:40shouldn't be the first thing you do
04:48I mean I think the biggest enticement to come is employment and then in place
04:55like California benefits like taxpayer benefits but I think birthright
04:59citizenship is also an enticement and and that was not what the 14th Amendment
05:04was ever intended to do with respect to illegally crossing the border and then
05:09giving birth here in the United States the purpose of the 14th Amendment was to
05:13overturn the Dred Scott case which said that basically blacks could not be US
05:19citizens Dred Scott was a freed slave he sued the Supreme Court said he can't be
05:24considered a citizen Lincoln rightfully attacked that ruling Lincoln was not
05:31even gonna he said that you shouldn't comply with the ruling you know you hear
05:34some of these people talk oh they're not following corridors read what Lincoln
05:37said about Dred Scott Lincoln did not submit to Dred Scott and so when you had
05:43time for the 14th Amendment that was written in there to to nullify the Dred
05:48Scott decision and that was specifically meant to deal with the issue of
05:53African Americans particularly after after the abolition of slavery now and
05:58Tom makes a good point because in law school we're even taught oh the Supreme
06:02Court's already decided anyone born here is a citizen and you and I and I used to
06:07think that was the law until I started really looking at it but this Wong Kim
06:12case from the 1880s or 90s you had two Chinese nationals who legally immigrated
06:19to the United States and then they had a and then they said under those
06:22circumstances that that was birthright but that's a lot different than people
06:26coming in contrary to what the law is where the the American people have never
06:32through their elected representatives provided that pathway to come just
06:36across the border so it's definitely a live issue I think the Supreme Court
06:41will will tackle it look I don't know that I would be heavily optimistic that
06:48they'll rule the right way I think it's possible but I think it's very much a
06:52jump ball we know how three of them will rule the opposite they will say you know
06:58as long as you get across you get across that border illegally a minute later give
07:01birth there say that's what the Constitution somehow was supposed to be
07:04we know that's not what what what is there and it's not honestly what the
07:07text says but it is going to be it is going to be litigated I think the
07:11president was right to do the executive order he knew that this was going to end
07:15up in the courts and and that's that's fine I mean this this this is the type
07:20of an issue where a Supreme Court would end up having the ability to pass a
07:24judgment on but let's just be clear how this has developed over the last many
07:29decades no one at the time the 14th Amendment was ratified would have said
07:35that was appropriate and if you had told them that's what was going to happen the
07:3914th Amendment as written would not have even been ratified yeah I agree I think
07:44this idea that and I think President Trump was in his team was very smart you
07:50know the executive order is is very specific about birthright citizenship and
07:54they knew it was going to get into the court so I certainly agree with that but
07:57they they started focusing on those folks that come to the United States
08:00illegally and whether they have or their children have a right to citizenship here
08:04and I think that is something that certainly needs to be decided but Tom
08:08brought it up and the governor's brought it up this idea that you have a right to
08:12asylum or you have a right to a student visa right the Columbia student who is
08:16being deported or that you have a right to a green card I think the left has
08:20misconstrued that for so long you don't have a right to any of that that is a
08:24benefit that is a discretionary benefit that the United States government
08:27provides you and embedded in that are restrictions and things that you need to
08:32do to adhere to that and so this idea that you can't deport students or this
08:38idea that you can't deny green cards or even remove people with green cards of
08:41course you can that's a discretionary benefit in immigration law that the
08:46United States government provides and when you don't adhere to certain
08:49principles and certain requirements well guess what you don't have a right to
08:52that that can be withdrawn and you can be removed so a lot of this that that
08:58we've talked about here is just getting the American people to think about what
09:01they've been sort of told for so long people have a right to certain things
09:05actually if you look at the law which Tom and others do quite often that's
09:10actually not the case and I think what President Trump and the team is doing
09:14this time around we did it what I call Trump 1.0 we did it there as well as
09:19actually looking at the law and actually adhering to the law and administrating
09:23an immigration system how it was supposed to be designed not how it's
09:28been conceived over over many decades