Trump birthright citizenship push poses headaches for divided GOP

President Trump’s push to pass a new law to restrict birthright citizenship is creating new headaches for Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) and Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), who must navigate GOP divisions over the issue.

Trump last week declared that the Supreme Court’s decision knocking down his executive efforts to limit birthright citizenship could “easily” be addressed by Congress through legislation, but GOP lawmakers and immigration experts are warning that passing legislation would be anything but easy.

Trump’s allies are stepping up long-shot efforts to amend the Constitution to deny birthright citizenship to the children of foreign tourists and visitors, but Johnson said over the weekend that Republican leaders are looking at other angles, as well.

Advocates for limiting birthright citizenship acknowledge that legislation is unlikely to make it to Trump’s desk, setting up a conflict between the president and wavering GOP lawmakers over how hard to push the issue in the months before Election Day.

“I don’t think anything’s going to actually reach the president’s desk,” said Mark Krikorian, the executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, a nonpartisan research group that favors lower levels of immigration.

But he predicted that GOP leaders will push for it in response to Trump’s call for action to highlight differences between Republicans and Democrats before the midterm elections.

“The bills are not intended to actually pass – although obviously the supporters would be delighted with that. They are likely to be used more as political messaging,” Krikorian said. “The legislative activity is necessary to specify what it is you’re for but everyone understanding it’s highly unlikely to pass.”

Republican divisions over how to handle the issue of birthright citizenship and how hard to push for a bill that has little chance of passing parallels another divide in the GOP that has been a problem for leadership: Trump’s demands for the SAVE America Act.

Some GOP senators have fumed over relentless efforts by Trump allies such as Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Rick Scott (R-Fla.) to insist on repeated votes on the election reform bill, even though it is well short of having enough support to pass.

Chris Chmielenski, president of the Immigration Accountability Project, a group that opposes mass immigration, said that legislation limiting birthright citizenship has a better chance of passing the House but warned that the Speaker may have to twist arms to get 218 votes.

“I think there’s a chance in the House. Who knows in the Senate,” he said. “Speaker Johnson went out this weekend and said that he’d like to see legislation come forth that would end birthright citizenship.

He acknowledged that any limitation Congress places on birthright citizenship would face a court challenge but argued lawmakers “have some ground to stand on with their Article I authority” to shape courts interpretation of the 14th Amendment, which served as the basis for the Supreme Court’s decision.

“There’s likely support among House Republicans to get something across the finish line, there may be some arm twisting,” he said.

Republicans split over Trump’s executive order decreeing that no department or agency should issue documents recognizing U.S. citizenship to children born to parents not lawfully present in the United States or only visiting the country on a temporary visa.

Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.), one of the most endangered GOP House incumbents, argued on social media that “birth tourism,” whereby foreign visitors obtain citizenship for their children by giving birth on trips to the United States, is not an issue that can be addressed by “executive fiat.”

Lawler last week defended the Supreme Court decision against Trump’s executive order as “well-reasoned and thought out.”

He argued Congress should address the thorny issue through “the legislative process.”

Rep. Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.) also praised the high court’s decision.

“The Supreme Court has spoken on birthright citizenship, and I agree with the Court’s decision,” she said. “The Constitution is clear, and we must always respect the rule of law.”

Even so, Trump’s allies are gearing up for a big push on what they hope will be a defining election issue, even though it may throw a wrench into passing other priorities on time, such as the annual defense authorization bills or the annual spending bills.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), one of Trump’s closest Senate allies, has introduced the Birthright Citizenship Act, which would set off another food fight in the upper chamber.

His legislation would limit birthright citizenship by redefining the 14th Amendment’s language that “all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States.”

Graham argues that the children of illegal immigrants and temporary visitors to the nation should not be judged “subject to the jurisdiction” of the nation and therefore due citizenship.

Rep. Brian Babin (R-Texas) has introduced the House version of Graham’s bill.

Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio), another Trump ally and member of the Senate GOP whip team, reintroduced a bill last week that would eliminate birthright citizenship and make other changes.

It would establish that birthright citizenship does not apply to children of illegal immigrants and make it a federal crime for non-citizens to vote in any federal election.

Neither Graham’s bill nor Moreno’s proposal would likely muster the 60 votes needed to advance in the Senate, however, which is why Thune may be reluctant to schedule it for a vote.

GOP lawmakers are also divided over the practicality of another proposal, a constitutional amendment. Amending the Constitutional requires two-thirds support in both the Senate and the House and ratification by three-fourths of the states, making it a near-impossible lift in today’s partisan atmosphere.

Senate Republicans have largely avoided a debate over birthright citizenship by pointing out that the courts would need to rule on Trump’s executive order.

But now the Supreme Court has dumped the issue back in Congress’s lap.

Graham and Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) support the enactment of a constitutional amendment to limit birthright citizenship.

“The Supreme Court’s decision underscores something I have said for years: the 14th Amendment was never intended to grant automatic citizenship to children born to parents who are in this country illegally,” Paul said on social media Tuesday.

He argues that Congress has “the authority and the responsibility to fix this.”

His proposed amendment would require that at least one parent be a U.S. citizen, a lawful permanent resident or serving in the military.

But some Republicans say getting a constitutional amendment passed is largely a pipe dream. They would prefer to spend what’s left of this year’s Senate floor time on other priorities, such as reauthorization of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) authorities and confirmation of Todd Blanche to serve as attorney general.

“Recall for a constitutional amendment to be adopted: A proposed amendment must be passed by two-thirds of both houses of Congress, then ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the states,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) wrote in a post on social media, expressing a heavy dose of skepticism about the push.

Chmielenski, the president of the Immigration Accountability Project, predicted that Thune would face a challenge mustering a simple majority vote to limit birthright citizenship just as he has struggled to come up with 51 votes for the SAVE America Act.

“The fact that they don’t have 51 votes at least right now for the SAVE America Act gives me a little bit of doubt,” he said.

He said two Senate swing votes, Sens. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) – when he returns to work in the Senate – are likely to vote for the measure but raised questions about moderate Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska).

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