Yeah, Cruz looked like he was hedging on the legal issue of birthright citizenship. He seemed to think the Constitution does grant such citizenship to illegals, whether the parents are illegal or not. That seemed to guide his non answer answer. I thought he came across badly. And mostly because he believes the 14th amendment grants illegals birthrights. He trapped himself with that previous position.
In took it as no matter how you interpret the 14th amendment there are multiple ways of denying birth right citizenship for illegals.
But I do think it should be done sooner rather then after border, takes away incentive to come
Cruz is a very good lawyer and the weight of the legal evidence does support the 14th Amendment granting birthright citizenship to everyone born while their parents are living in the U.S. under U.S. law. Most scholars think the “under the jurisdiction...” of the United States clause was simply intended to exclude the children of diplomats and native americans born on reservations where they were governed by treaty not U.S. law. Mark Levin is in a very small minority if he thinks that this can easily be changed without a constitutional amendment.
Yes, Cruz came across a bit limp on this answer, but think of the pressure any candidate might be under with these “gotcha” questions. meGYN had plenty of time to mdream up this Q. Cruz is expected to react instantaneously with a perfect answer. Maybe the real response in these situations would be a counter-question such as: Megyn, you pose this situation of a family composed of an illegal mother and father and two biological children who are U.S. citizens. If you can explain how that came to be, then I will be happy to answer your question. If you can’t explain the premise of your question, then Donald Trump was correct -— There you go AGAIN!!!