U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin and and her GOP opponent, Leah Vukmir, are on opposite sides of a plan from President Trump to end birthright citizenship for some born in the U.S.
While Baldwin, D-Madison, instead called for “comprehensive immigration reform,” Vukmir, R-Brookfield, characterized Trump’s idea as “courageous leadership to fix our immigration crisis.”
The pair’s comments came after an Axios report yesterday showed Trump is working on an executive order to target the granting of American citizenship to children born in the nation to parents who aren’t citizens. That issue is addressed in the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, which says, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”
Baldwin said in a statement from her campaign she disagrees with Trump, adding the nation needs to “fix our broken immigration system and strengthen our border” via an immigration overhaul effort.
Vukmir slammed Baldwin on Twitter for failing on the issue of immigration, which she says “has resulted in free education and healthcare benefits for illegal immigrants.”
“As the daughter of legal Greek immigrants, I support birthright citizenship for individuals legally in our country, but illegal immigrants are taking advantage of America’s generosity,” she wrote.
Meanwhile, House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Janesville, said in a radio interview the U.S. “cannot end birthright citizenship with an executive order,” per national media reports.
The office of U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson pointed to a radio interview the Oshkosh Republican did this afternoon with John Mercure on WTMJ.
In the interview, Johnson called the issue “a very legitimate debate,” adding that birthright citizenship is “another reward if you come in this country illegally.”
See the Axios report:
https://www.axios.com/trump-birthright-citizenship-executive-order-0cf4285a-16c6-48f2-a933-bd71fd72ea82.html
See Vukmir’s tweets:
https://twitter.com/LeahVukmir/status/1057316925255114753
Hear Johnson’s comments:
https://www.wtmj.com/shows/wisconsins-afternoon-news
