Posted on 08/26/2015 10:37:19 AM PDT by Hojczyk
Last night on Donald Trump's least favorite Fox News program, The Kelly File, GOP contender Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) also went after the suddenly controversial interviewer, complaining that a question she kept pressing him on—whether he'd deport the U.S.-citizen children of illegal immigrants, as Donald Trump would—is "the question every mainstream media liberal journalist wants to ask." Sick burn!
Anyway, the question—which Cruz, to his discredit, refused to answer—is an important one for those many 2016 GOP candidates (Trump, Cruz, Scott Walker, Rand Paul, Rick Santorum, Lindsey Graham, Bobby Jindal, etc.) who have come out against the birthright citizenship established by the plain text of the 14th amendment. We get that you wish to change the existing rules somehow (Trump and Ron Paul, to name two people, think you can do so without a constitutional amendment), but what to do about the estimated 4 million American-citizen kids having at least one illegal-immigrant parent? Given the rapid Trumpification of the 2016 nominating process, and Cruz's demonstrated readiness to strip U.S. citizenship in other contexts, the issue of forcibly expelling Americans from their native country—regardless of how appalling—is a live one, demanding clarification.
Here's a detail that rarely gets brought up during nonsense-filled immigration debates: President Barack Obama has been a much bigger deporter-in-chief than George W. Bush. The Department of Homeland Security issued 2 million deportations during Bush's tenure; Obama blew through that number in Year Five of his presidency:
The administration has since made a sharp policy turn, triggering some of the heated debate we've seen over the past year, but there's no guarantee that his late-breaking deportation slowdown would be carried on by the next Democratic president, particularly if it's restrictionist Bernie Sanders.
(Excerpt) Read more at reason.com ...
He would not answer the question…it was not like Trump in the debate
Which assumes that the subjects are US citizens, doesn’t it?
When did Trump say he would deport U.S. citizens? I don’t think he has ever said that.
How many can you expel in a year…????
Plain language of the 14th Amendment, but only some of the plain language, and excluding some of it to suit one’s notion.
“and subject to the jurisdiction thereof”
If all words are there for a reason, and all words have meaning, what is the meaning of this phrase?
Does the intent of the drafter matter?
He is a lawyer and he knows the answer. You cannot deport a US Citizen. He was just trying not to lose any more ground to Trump.
If their parents chose not to take their little anchor baby with them back to their home country, that’s their problem. Which is exactly why birthright citizenship to the offspring of non-citizens is insane and needs to be ended pronto.
Yes.
We do not need to deport them. If we end the anchor babies, end the free stuff, and make employers not hire people who are here illegally, they will leave on their own. They will quit coming in the first place.
This is a liberal Gotcha question that does not relate to reality.
I think Cruz is of the opinion that many will self deport if laws are changed, the border is secured, and there is little chance that illegals will get residency permits or citizenship.
...the right to bear arms shall not be infringed. Amazing how they can imagine plain text rights in the 14th, yet somehow mangle the 2nd...
If the parent is picked up for the crime of being illegal and sent to a detention center the state is going to need to find foster care for a lot of these kids.
Ship the parents back to where they came from. Leave it to the parents to decide whether to bring the kids with them, or leave them behind in the custody of the U.S. Government.
The government can sent up camps, where the children can go to school in the morning, and pick lettuce in the afternoon. This will help the children build a strong moral character, learn the value of U.S. Citizenship, and eliminate the need for importing farm workers.
It’s a win-win for everyone!
I hope the candidates are ready for this question. It’s basically the ‘rape or incest’ version of immigration.
Cruz did not handle it well last night, in my opinion. I watched it live, and she asked him three times, and he was stumbling - trying to say that’s not a real question. Whereas Trump said point blank, ‘Bill we have to do it.’
However, Cruz’s slam against Kelly, calling her biased, did work for him as it changed the narrative and many of today’s headlines. Instead of Cruz being stumped and looking like a typical politician, he made the story about media bias and Megyn Kelly.
I really just think Cruz let his guard down. He went into what he thought was friendly territory and got ambushed. I guarantee he’ll have a better answer next time.
Since Kelly is lying in wait to trip up Republican candidates, they should either be prepared or refuse to go on her show. To her question about what he would do with illegal alien parents of two children born here, would he deport the parents and leave the children here, or deport all of them, Cruz should have said, “ Knowing the family values of our culture, the parents would never leave their children here. They would take their children back to the parents’ country of origin and apply to enter the U.S. Legally, so they could pursue the American Dream together.”
Be ready, candidates, or stay away from the Gotcha Gang at the networks.
Cruz wouldn’t deport the illegal parents, so he’s certainly not going to deport the US citizen kids.
So, as I understand it, Cruz will not make some empty campaign platitude, but understands that deporting the parents here illegally leaves a sticky constitutional wicket that has yet to be worked out concerning children already granted citizen status. I don’t think careful and restrained should be equated with evasion. However, I do think unthoughtful statements about future policy should be equated with recklessness.
Child abandonment, not taking their child with them as they are deported, should be grounds for never receiving citizenship in the future.
That will help prevent some of the cases.
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