Sen. David Vitter is renewing his call to change the law so that U.S. citizenship is no longer granted automatically as a result of being born on American soil.
The Louisiana Republican, in an interview on CNN that was flagged by the Hill, said the U.S. is the only industrialized nation that treats citizenship as a birthright, regardless of the citizenship of a child’s parents. Vitter, who plans to run for governor next year, also was critical of apportionment regulations that he says count non-citizens as a part of the population in the drawing of congressional districts.
“Another rule which I think is absolutely crazy is when Congress is apportioned following a new sentence, non-citizens, including illegals, are part of that town,” Vitter said. “Now I don’t think the founders established Congress to represent non-citizens.”
“This is the only country where just because an individual is born here physically, he or she is a citizen. That’s an outlier rule. No other industrialized country has that rule,” Vitter added. “I don’t know why we have that rule.”
Vitter’s comments come on the heels of President Obama’s controversial executive order to grant temporary legalized status to 4.1 million illegal immigrants whose children are U.S. citizens or legal residents. Republicans argue that Obama has overstepped his constitutional authority. The president has defended his actions as legal and necessary in the face of congressional Republicans’ opposition to comprehensive immigration reform.
