On Friday, 2024 GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said in an interview that he would deport the children of those in the United States illegally, according to multiple reports.
“The family unit will be deported,” Ramaswamy told NBC News at a town hall meeting in Iowa on Friday when he was asked if American-born children would be deported with their parents.
NBC noted that the 14th Amendment explains that all those born in the United States are American citizens. When NBC asked Ramaswamy again if the children of illegal immigrants would be deported, he said: “That is correct.”
"There are legally contested questions under the 14th Amendment of whether the child of an illegal immigrant is indeed a child who enjoys birthright citizenship," he added. "They are contested."
Reportedly, another 2024 GOP presidential candidate, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, previously stated that birthright citizenship for children of illegal immigrants is “inconsistent with the original understanding of the 14th Amendment.”
In an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley said that Ramaswamy’s approach is “putting the cart before the horse.”
“What we need to do is go to Congress and say, ‘Do your job.’ They need to do immigration reform,” Haley said, explaining that policies like “catch and release” should be “catch and deport.”
“The fact that you want to talk about children of illegal immigrants, that’s the cart before the horse. Why don’t we talk about legal immigration, reforming it, stopping the border and then talk about what we are going to do to deal with the children of illegal immigrants.”
Nikki Haley completely punts when Jake Tapper asks if she supports Vivek Ramaswamy's proposal to deport children of undocumented immigrants who were born in the US.
— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) September 10, 2023
"I think that conversation is putting the cart before the horse." pic.twitter.com/51ecPfj2dV