‘Birthright citizenship is unconstitutional’ says White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt

Washington DC: In her first-ever briefing, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt warned that the Trump administration believes children of migrants ‘not subject’ to laws of the US when asked about Trump’s executive order to end birthright citizenship.

Karoline Leavitt, the youngest White House press secretary in history, defended Trump’s executive order attempting to end birthright citizenship, despite legal challenges from 22 state attorneys general. “This administration believes that birthright citizenship is unconstitutional,” Leavitt said, vowing to take the fight to the Supreme Court.

In one of his first acts as the 47th president of the United States, Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at ending “birthright citizenship” - meaning the automatic American citizenship that is granted to anyone born in the country.

Trump’s order seeks to change the rules to deny the granting of citizenship to the children of migrants who are either in the US illegally or on temporary visas. It applies to children born on 19 February and onwards, and does not apply retroactively

The well prepared and confident Leavitt was taking questions during her first press briefing since Trump returned to the White House last week, when she was also asked about the mass arrests. Levitt warned those thinking of entering the United States illegally to “think again” as she listed a number ICE arrests of convicted criminals over the last week. She said Trump wants all illegal immigrants removed - including those who have committed violent crimes and undocumented migrants.

“The 3,500 arrests that ICE (US Customs and Immigration Enforcement) has made so far since President Trump came back into office. Can you just tell us the numbers? How many have a criminal record versus those who are just in the country illegally,” one reporter asked.

“All of them, because they illegally broke our nation’s laws, and therefore, they are criminals as far as this administration goes,” Leavitt replied. “I know the last administration didn’t see it that way. So it’s a big culture shift in our nation to view someone who breaks our immigration laws as a criminal, but that’s exactly what they are.” (ANI)

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