Juno News - October 30, 2018Trump ends Birthright Citizenship
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Summary
Trump has called for an end to birthright citizenship and the idea that just because you are born in a country, you are a citizen of that country. Why should someone born in another country be a citizen just because they were born there?
Transcript
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Few things are more sacred in a country than the integrity of its citizenship and
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immigration process because if you lose control of those you lose control of a
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great many other things. Well American President Donald Trump is taking aim in
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an interview he did with Axios at birthright citizenship. The idea that just
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because you are born in a country means you are a citizen of that country. Now
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President Trump has said that he is going to pursue an executive order rather
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than a constitutional amendment which some people have said is required or
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even an act of Congress which most people would assume on a major policy item is
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in fact required. He says that he's run it by a council and he is convinced that he
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can actually do this by executive order. Now I'm not a fan of governing by
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executive fiat except when absolutely necessary. However I do think that the
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idea of putting an end to birthright citizenship is something worth at least
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entertaining. Certainly not the tyrannical stroke of the pen that so
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many people are accusing it of being. Quite frankly if someone walks into a
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country illegally at eight and a half months pregnant and then gives birth to a
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child why should that child be a citizen when they're only in that country by an
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illegal act by another. There are a lot of ethical dilemmas that come up when you
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start talking about deporting children however we also have a very real
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phenomenon of anchor babies being used in the US to keep illegal immigrants who
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are parents in the country. And now that Canada has its own problem of illegal
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immigrants flooding across the border and breaking the law by doing so it stands
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to reason that this is a loophole that is being exploited here as well. And for
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starters this is not out of the norm for Trump to say we have to put an end to
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birthright citizenship. This was a motion that was passed by Conservative Party of
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Canada members for the Canadian Conservative Party to put forward as a policy. That
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happened at the last CPC convention in Halifax. Quite frankly few Western developed
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countries do offer birthright citizenship. Canada and the United States are rarities.
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But it stands to reason that we should not be rewarding with citizenship which is in
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fact a tremendously valuable asset for Canada or the US to people who are getting it not
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accidentally but getting it because they broke the law. And this is where I draw a
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line. We're not talking about rare cases where someone might be on vacation and a
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baby comes a little bit early but we do need to address it in the situations where
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people are deliberately trying to get into the country for the sole purpose of
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giving birth. Why should citizenship be earned by the child in that case? For the
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There are times that you make sure you're not interested in living with your