Some Republican lawmakers want to change the way the government grants birthright citizenship. But it’s unclear what they can do — or if it will become a priority for the House Republican conference.
“We’ve got to deal with that issue,” Rep. Chip Roy said of unauthorized immigration, “and birthright citizenship is part of it. So yes, it should be a priority.”
“If we can move something, we ought to clarify on it, but we got to get through all this stuff first,” he said, referring to the other GOP priorities, like passing the budget.
There’s growing traction in the Republican Party over the need to redefine the 14th Amendment, which makes people born in the U.S. citizens regardless of their parents’ status. President Donald Trump’s attempt to restrict birthright citizenship via executive order has been temporarily blocked in the courts. The House held a hearing Tuesday on the matter. But that doesn’t mean Congress will actually address it.
There’s at least one bill this session that would codify the Trump administration’s interpretation of birthright citizenship.
“I’ve told folks, if ever there’s a time for us to clarify and codify, that time is now,” Rep. Mark Harris, who introduced the bill along with Rep. Brian Babin, said at the hearing.
Still, Republicans told NOTUS they’re not sure where birthright citizenship would fit in their already busy agenda.
“I think the Constitution’s clear on it, but if we can add some sort of congressional confirmation to the issue, I’d love to see it,” Rep. Jodey Arrington, chair of the House Budget Committee, said. “I don’t know whether that’s on the agenda or not. I just know where I stand on it, and I think the vast majority of people in my conference.”
The Budget Committee’s vice chair, Rep. Blake Moore, said his main focus is reconciliation: “There’s huge priorities right now to make sure we get this reconciliation done,” he said.
“There’s a lot of interesting things to think about here,” said Rep. Tom Cole, who chairs the Appropriations Committee. “Right now, though, the immediate concern is, got to keep the government funded and got to keep moving on the budget and the tax issue.”
Rep. Tony Gonzales, chair of the Congressional Hispanic Conference, said the group has discussed the issue. Their districts, many with Hispanic majorities and some along the U.S.-Mexico border, could be disproportionately affected by such a change. But he still agreed that other issues come first.
“I’m focused on budget reconciliation, on the CR in two weeks,” he said. “We will get to this, but I think there’s other things in front of it.”
Some Republicans said the issue should be left to the Supreme Court, which could either take up the case against Trump’s executive order or allow a lower court’s ruling to stand. If the Supreme Court upholds Trump’s executive order, Congress can’t do much anyway.
“It’s a very important issue, and it is obviously relevant to what I think is both a high priority and an urgent issue, which is securing the border and driving down incentives for mass migration,” Rep. Derek Schmidt said.
“I do think we need to wait and see,” Schmidt added. “It’s hard to know what to address until you know what the court says the state of the law is.”
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Casey Murray is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.