House Candidate Seth Grossman said on Thursday that President Donald Trump’s attempt to unilaterally end birthright citizenship guaranteed by the 14th amendment is opening the door for immigration reform.
“The fact that it raises the question of whether the 14th Amendment of the Constitution affirms ‘birthright citizenship’ means that there is a showdown ahead, likely ending up in the Supreme Court and possibly requiring a Constitutional Amendment which requires a two-thirds majority of both houses of Congress and three quarters of all 50 states to ratify,” Grossman said. “But like President John F. Kennedy once said, ‘a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.’ President Trump is taking that step for the betterment of the nation.”
Grossman, a fierce supporter of Trump facing a steep uphill race against State Sen. Jeff Van Drew, has focused on issues, like immigration, that animate Trump’s base, often using the issues to make braod attacks at Democrats.
“The Democrats have politicized the immigration issue and refused to move on immigration reform when given the opportunity,” he said. “The Trump Administration proposed legislation that would have allowed nearly two million ‘dreamers’ to become legal citizens in exchange for $25 billion to build the border wall, but the Democrats refused. Some of the Democrat proposals, such as in California to give all illegals free healthcare, are paths to complete economic collapse.”
Trump, not Democrats, killed that bipartisan proposal, which received a vote of 54-45 in the Senate but failed to meet a 60-vote threshold needed to advance the bill through White House opposition.
A separate measure Trump backed that would, among other things, have bolstered federal deportation powers and cut family-based legal immigration was voted down 39-60.