Republican presidential candidate Scott Walker has backed away from his call for birthright citizenship to be brought to an end, refusing to take a position on the issue in an interview on Friday.
Asked about the proposal to end the tradition – enshrined in the 14th amendment – that those born in the US have the right to citizenship, the Wisconsin governor told CNBC: “I’m not taking a position on it one way or another. I’m saying until you secure the border and enforce the laws, any discussion on anything else is looking past the things we have to do.”
Earlier this week, Walker had answered the question of whether birthright citizenship should end, saying: “Yeah, to me it’s about enforcing the laws in this country. And I’ve been very clear, I think you enforce the laws, and I think it’s important to send a message that we’re going to enforce the laws, no matter how people come here, we’re going to enforce the laws.”
While birthright citizenship has long been a concern among some of the most vocal opponents of immigration on the right, it has not became a focal point of debate until recently, when Republican frontrunner Donald Trump introduced his immigration plan.
Former Florida governor Jeb Bush has defended the principle of birthright citizenship, telling reporters in New Hampshire on Thursday: “The courts have ruled that it’s part of the 14th amendment of our constitution, and my belief is that it ought to stay that way, that this is part of our noble heritage.”
The United States has long been a relative outlier in the western world in upholding the principle of birthright citizenship. The principle, which is rooted in English common law, was formally incorporated in the 14th amendment to the constitution, which states: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”
Birthright citizenship has not been tested in the courts for nearly 120 years since the supreme court ruled in United States v Wong Kim Ark that “every person born in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, becomes at once a citizen of the United States, and needs no naturalization”.
