GOP Presidential Candidates Nearly Unanimously Agree on Ending Anchor Baby Policy, Matching Up With Voters

Ending the nation’s anchor baby policy, which rewards the United States-born children of illegal aliens with birthright American citizenship, has quickly become a consensus issue among most Republican presidential hopefuls — a move that finally puts candidates in line with their voters.

Annually, nearly 400,000 “anchor babies,” the term used to describe the U.S.-born children of illegal aliens, are delivered across all 50 states. {snip}

Years later, when anchor babies become adults, they can sponsor their parents and foreign relatives for green cards — anchoring their family in the U.S. for generations to come. {snip}

During Wednesday evening’s debate, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy reiterated that he would move to end birthright citizenship as president:

I favor ending birthright citizenship for the kids of illegal immigrants in this country. 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 jurisdictions thereof are citizens.’ [Emphasis added]

So nobody believes that the kid of a Mexican diplomat in this country enjoys birthright citizenship — not a judge or legal scholar will disagree with me on that. Well if the kid of a Mexican diplomat doesn’t enjoy birthright citizenship then neither does the kid of an illegal migrant who broke the law to come here. [Emphasis added]

Of course, former President Donald Trump has floated his plan for ending birthright citizenship for years. Trump first said he opposed birthright citizenship back in 2015 and has consistently held that view but stopped short of ending the policy while he was president.

Now, Trump is again promising to end birthright citizenship, telling voters in May that he will sign an executive order on day one to end the policy:

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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) includes ending birthright citizenship in his official immigration platform as part of his presidential bid:

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Former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley told Fox News in July that she, like other Republicans, opposes birthright citizenship but did not detail any plans to do away with the policy.

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Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), for instance, has not committed to ending birthright citizenship, but at Wednesday evening’s debate, he said the policy has been manipulated to serve illegal aliens.

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Former Vice President Mike Pence and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) have both previously suggested they oppose birthright citizenship but have yet to make the issue part of their presidential bids.

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In 2021, a survey from the pro-open borders Cato Institute found that more than 6-in-10 GOP voters said they oppose birthright citizenship. A 2018 poll from Rasmussen Reports showed that 72 percent of GOP voters likewise oppose birthright citizenship.

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