WASHINGTON: Indian-American US presidential hopeful Bobby Jindal has joined fellow Republican candidate Donald Trump in calling for an end to birthright citizenship for children born to illegal immigrants.
“We need to end birthright citizenship for illegal immigrants,” Jindal tweeted a day after real-estate tycoon and leading Republican presidential candidate Trump unveiled his tough plan to combat what he calls the negative economic consequences of illegal immigration.
Interestingly, Jindal, who is trailing at the bottom in most of the opinion polls and enjoys support of less than 1 per cent in CNN’s recent poll, was himself born three months after his pregnant mother came to the US from India.
The 44-year-old Louisiana Governor, however, took care to point out that his parents “came to this country legally”.
Speaking at an event yesterday hosted by conservative Americans for Prosperity in Columbus, Ohio, Jindal said, “Immigration without assimilation is invasion,” and claimed that he could secure the southern border with Mexico within six months of becoming president.
Earlier, Trump, in his immigration proposal, called for Mexico to fund a protective wall across the US-Mexican border, deportation of all “criminal aliens,” and tripling the force of US immigration officers.
Trump had also proposed to raise the minimum wage for the H-1B visas, which remain hugely popular with Indian IT professionals, who bagged almost 86 per cent of the H-1B visas that the US granted last year for computer jobs.
Calling the present US immigration policy “dumb”, Jindal said: “A smart immigration policy will make our country stronger – a dumb immigration policy will make it weaker,” and promised to rein in on “sanctuary cities” which shelter illegal immigrants.
Jindal even proposed to charge the Mayors of these cities as accessories to crimes committed by undocumented workers.
Most Republican candidates including Trump, Jindal and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie have hardened their stance on immigration and Jeb Bush had recently referred to US-born children of undocumented immigrants as “anchor babies.”
However, Trump and Jindal’s desire to end citizen rights for children born in the US to undocumented workers, will require more than winning an election.
The 14th Amendment to the US Constitution, ratified on July 9, 1868, granted citizenship to “all persons born or naturalized in the United States,” and repealing it would require votes from two-thirds of both the US House and Senate, and three quarters of the state legislatures. -PTI
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