Sorting out birthright citizenship (01-22-2025--Hour1)

[00:00:04] What's going on? Thank you so much for listening to this podcast. It is heard live every day from noon to 3 on WBT Radio in Charlotte. And if you want exclusive content like invitations to events, the weekly live stream, my daily show prep with all the links, become a patron, go to thepetekalendershow.com. Make sure you hit the subscribe button, get every episode for free, right to your smartphone or tablet. And again, thank you so much for your support.

[00:00:28] All right, so let's talk about birthright citizenship, shall we? Of all of the billions of executive orders that I could pick to go deep on, this is one of them. Because I know this issue has been, I mean, this has been an issue for decades. Despite what you may hear, I'm old enough to remember when people were talking about this 20 plus years ago, right?

[00:00:53] When George W. Bush tried his amnesty plan was when I first became aware of this and started, you know, reading up on it and heard, I've heard all of these arguments and now we're going to have the argument, which is, by the way, what happens in a democracy. That's what happens.

[00:01:11] You guys say we're a democracy, you are defenders of the democracy and great. Well, this is what a democracy looks like, right? To channel the Antifa moon bats marching in the streets with their drums and devil sticks. That's what they're called. Those little batons that anyway.

[00:01:33] We have the debate. We have a discussion because we are self-governing. That's what a democracy is about. We govern ourselves. We are adults. Well, most of us. We are adults. We are to debate and discuss and tease out the different arguments. And I understand if you have like an entire media industry that caters to your slogans and bumper sticker bromides that you never actually have to develop an argument.

[00:02:00] So you don't know how to do that. You don't know what it sounds like. You're not sure how to make one. So I get that. But this is what we're going to do with this issue. And by the way, I can actually understand the arguments on both sides. And that's what makes it difficult. And I'm sorry if it's difficult, but I'm not actually sorry.

[00:02:24] As Thomas Sowell has said, there are no solutions. There are only tradeoffs. But you know me, I'm all about solutions. So we are going to take a look at this argument. Okay, so two separate – we're going to start here with the news. And we knew this was coming as soon as Trump said he's going to do all of these executive orders.

[00:02:48] The shock and awe just bombard the news cycle with 200 executive orders. And I think this has – it has the impact of diffusing, not defusing, but diffusing a lot of the reactions. I don't know if I said this on the show yesterday or if it was in an interview that I did, but it doesn't matter.

[00:03:12] I'll say it again is that I give all these different coalitions inside the Democrat Party that they have their own issue that particularly animates them. That's why they're involved in politics. I'm not denigrating that. That's usually why people get involved in politics is there is an issue that affects them or they are animated by. And so they – that's their access point into the world of politics.

[00:03:34] Well, when you have 200 executive orders covering all these different things, you have all of these different people and groups and coalitions that are built around particular issues. And now it breaks them up. It splinters it up because the thing that I care about is addressed in executive order, you know, a billion one. And your thing that you care about is in executive order, one billion twelve.

[00:03:58] And so you're going after that one and you're making, you know, public pronouncements and you're trying to fundraise and, you know, sending out TikTok videos. Can you still do that? I think you can. So sending out the videos on your issue. Meanwhile, I'm over here basically competing for the same audience eyeballs as you are. So it has spread it out a lot rather than just do one and everybody gets to direct their fire.

[00:04:27] They can, you know, sort of like Ghostbusters, you know, join the streams there and all focus their fire on one target. So two separate coalitions of attorneys general allege that this latest executive order from the president, Donald Trump, violates the 14th Amendment, which guarantees that anybody born in the United States is considered a legal citizen regardless of their parents' immigration status. The president, this is from the federal lawsuit.

[00:04:57] The president has no authority to rewrite or nullify a constitutional amendment or duly enacted statute, nor is he empowered by any other source of law to limit who receives United States citizenship at birth.

[00:05:13] Trump's order directs federal departments and agencies to stop issuing citizenship documents to U.S.-born children whose mothers are staying in the country illegally or otherwise staying temporarily if the father is not a U.S. citizen or a lawful and permanent resident. The order takes effect next month.

[00:05:35] So in other words, if you have two parents and neither one of them are legal immigrants or, you know, have permission to be here, then you don't get citizenship. This is what is referred to as the anchor baby. And it is called that because once you have the child, it anchors the family.

[00:06:00] See, it's one thing for the child to be the citizen, but because of the other immigration law, which I don't see addressed really in any of the coverage on all of this, you then get to basically hook into the child status. And that then bumps you ahead of the line in getting access to government services and maybe even potentially citizenship for yourself.

[00:06:27] So there is an entire industry where people come here as, quote, tourists on tourist visas to have their children. Did you know that? Do you think that there is an opportunity to abuse this program if you are, let's say, a nefarious government agency? OK, I'll answer it. Yes, of course. And in fact, it has been done.

[00:06:56] It has already been done. Have you seen the TV series The Americans? That's what they did. Right. Two Russian spies or Soviet Union spies. I know it's a fictional work, but a lot of it is rooted in historical nonfiction. And so you have these spies that get fake identities. They come to America. They have their kids and their kids are basically American. They're raised in the American system because the spies are deep undercover.

[00:07:26] So if you have malintent, this is a way to do that. But you don't even have to go through the trouble of faking your own passports and stuff. Right. You just you just come in, have the babies. And if you are a bad actor, now you have this connection or this, quote, anchor. You have this connection. And you get a reason to stay. Is that a problem from a policy standpoint? I would say, yes, it is.

[00:07:55] How can we address this particular problem? How do we get at that? That doesn't it doesn't matter what country you're coming from. Let's say Russia. I know the left hates Russia now. So let's say Russia. Right. What if Pootie Poot sends a bunch of people into America? They start having babies in America. Right. And now they can essentially build up a foreign intel operation. Right. And that's the Russians.

[00:08:26] And that's I think that's that's how Trump got elected. He had all the anchor babies. I'm kidding. I'm just kidding. The new administration takes issue with the phrase in the 14th Amendment that says subject to the jurisdiction thereof. That is the that is the key phrase at the heart of all of this. Here's a great idea. How about making an escape to a really special and secluded getaway in western North Carolina?

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[00:10:18] And this is the thing where people are like, and I just heard it again yesterday, someone was like, oh, I'm from up north. This is nothing. Like, you think it's nothing because you think it's snow. It's not snow. It is snow, but then it becomes something else. Satan's slurry. And it all freezes. You can have all the four-wheel drive you want. It just means four wheels spin. Okay? On the ice. Everything ice is over. And the main roads are good.

[00:10:48] Main roads, your primary roads and highways, they're all good. It's the secondary roads that, eh, a little sketchy. And then your tertiary roads, which are the ones that connect off of the secondary roads, like your neighborhood streets and stuff. Those things, they can be in pretty bad shape. Some of mine were. So, a lot of people working from home today. I welcome you to the program. If you have not ever heard this before, it's 704-570-1110 is the phone number.

[00:11:15] Email is Pete at thepetecalinershow.com. And on Twitter, at Pete Callender. I did get a message on Twitter from Daryl. It's a Pete tweet. He says, we always hear about standing in lawsuits. Like, do you have standing to bring the lawsuit? So, how does state attorneys general have standing in the birthright citizenship issue? And I'm glad you asked. I have it right here. I will take North Carolina, for example.

[00:11:45] We are our Attorney General, Jeff Jackson, Democrat, a.k.a. Baby Jesus. He has filed on behalf of the state of North Carolina, along with all these other blue states.

[00:11:58] North Carolina is aggrieved and has standing to bring this action because defendants' action, the president's action, of purporting to strip citizenship from United States citizens born and residing in North Carolina, receiving benefits in North Carolina, and receiving government services in North Carolina, harms North Carolina's sovereign, proprietary, and quasi-sovereign interests,

[00:12:25] and will continue to cause injury unless and until enforcement of the order is permanently enjoined. So, that's their—and that is replicated for every state that's a party to the lawsuit. They say the exact same thing for every state. So, that's their argument for why they have standing. Now, whether a judge, you know, or judges agree with it, we shall see. But that's their argument for why they have standing to bring the case. So, let me read— Hang on a second.

[00:12:56] The Constitution's 14th Amendment. Here it is. 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. Period. Okay? That's the first sentence.

[00:13:20] All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof. That's the phrase. And subject to the jurisdiction thereof. That's the phrase that gets everybody arguing, what does it mean? Subject to the jurisdiction thereof. And then it goes on to say,

[00:13:41] No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States, nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. That's the 14th Amendment. Passed after the Civil War.

[00:14:05] So the new administration takes issue with this phrase, subject to the jurisdiction thereof, arguing the amendment does not apply to kids whose parents are residing in the U.S. or are here temporarily.

[00:14:19] The first lawsuit was brought by New Jersey, Massachusetts, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Washington, D.C., Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Vermont, Wisconsin, and San Francisco. Like they just threw a city in there. And then there's a second lawsuit filed by Washington State, Arizona, Illinois, and Oregon.

[00:14:48] There are two other lawsuits from progressive organizations, including the ACLU and Lawyers for Civil Rights. Both lawsuits are requesting a preliminary injunction to prevent the order from taking effect on February 19th. All right. I hope you had a happy holiday season. But tell me if something like this happened at your house. Your family and friends are gathered around. Maybe y'all are in the living room. You're laughing, swapping stories, reminiscing.

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[00:16:09] So this now from the Associated Press. The White House said that it is ready to face the states in court and called the lawsuits, quote, nothing more than an extension of the left's resistance. Radical leftists can either choose to swim against the tide and reject the overwhelming will of the people, or they can get on board and work with President Trump, said White House Deputy Press Secretary Harrison Fields.

[00:16:34] Just, by the way, on that polling, I have it somewhere in the stack of stuff. Here it is. The polling is actually not in favor of what the president did. The question was asked in a January AP NORC survey.

[00:16:54] It asked people if they support or oppose, quote, changing the Constitution so children born in the United States are not automatically granted citizenship if their parents are here illegally. They found 28 percent favored it. So 28 percent favor ending birthright citizenship. Another 20 percent did not support or oppose. So undecided, basically, 20 percent. And then 51 percent opposed it.

[00:17:23] And then there was another survey by The New York Times. 41 percent support ending birthright citizenship. 55 percent opposed ending it. So. It's pretty evenly split, but it is more in favor of keeping birthright citizenship. So that's just the polling on it. I'm not telling you to agree or disagree. I'm not advising anybody on what the, quote, right position is. Reasonable people will disagree about this.

[00:17:53] OK, it's a tough issue. And there are a lot of different parts to it. And I understand having, you know, calm, rational debates about these kinds of things is not particularly in style in America. But I endeavor to set a new trend, much like I did with the word votainer. You see how well that caught on at issue in this case. Is the right to citizenship granted to anybody born in the U.S., regardless of their parents' immigration status?

[00:18:23] People in the U.S. on a tourist visa or another kind of visa, or they're in the country illegally, can become the parents of a citizen if their child is born here. It's enshrined, this is Associated Press, it's enshrined in the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, say supporters. But Trump and his allies dispute the reading of the amendment and say there need to be tougher standards on becoming a citizen.

[00:18:47] The U.S. is among about 30 countries where birthright citizenship is applied. Most are in the Americas and Canada and Mexico are among them. Most other countries confer citizenship based on whether at least one parent is a citizen or have a modified form of birthright citizenship that may restrict automatic citizenship to kids of parents who are on their territory legally.

[00:19:15] So there are a bunch of different models that are out there. But for the most part, in our hemisphere, our side of the planet over here, generally the principle is what they call jus, or jus, J-U-S, soli, S-O-L-I, which translates, I think that's Latin, translates to right of the soil. So that's the standard that's applied. Born here, you are a citizen.

[00:19:41] The other side of the argument is jus sanguinis, which is right of blood. And that's from your lineage. If your parents are citizens, then you're a citizen, right? So if your parents are here on a tourist visa and, oh, look at that, we just happened to time our world tour to end up in America just as, you know, I'm giving birth. Oh, what are the odds? Yeah, what are the odds?

[00:20:10] But like, so because we are jus, soli, it's of the soil. You are on the soil. So your rights are now of a citizen because you were on the soil versus through the blood. The 14th Amendment, according to the AP, did not always guarantee birthright citizenship to all U.S. born people, though. It did not always do that.

[00:20:38] Congress did not authorize citizenship for all Native Americans born in the United States until 1924, which is, yeah. Indians were not, they did not consider them citizens just because they were born in America, which is kind of weird looking back on it. I mean, it's right there in their name, Native American. You would think like that. Anyway, then there is a case, Wong Kim Ark.

[00:21:07] Three names. It's a guy's name, Wong Kim Ark. All right, I'm going to get into that case as well because that's the seminal case. But some advocates of immigration restrictions have argued that while the case, the Wong Kim Ark case, clearly applied to children born to parents who are both legal immigrants, it's not clear whether it applies to children born to parents without legal status. See, there's the dividing line here, right?

[00:21:35] And I suspect this is why for, you know, the last 20 years there has been this full court press to conflate all immigrants with each other. That legal, illegal, tourist visa, work visa, whatever. It's like everybody's the same. See, but everybody's not the same. There are all these different classifications for a reason.

[00:21:58] And I know the left doesn't particularly care for conventional definitions and such, but they then probably need to understand that these definitions exist for a reason. And so when you strip away the meanings of words, it becomes much easier to mold the words to achieve your policy goals. And that's what we have been seeing in the immigration debate. And so this is why I welcome the debate.

[00:22:27] This executive order is going to force this discussion. All right. If you're listening to this show, you know, I try to keep up with all sorts of current events. And I know you do, too. And you've probably heard me say, get your news from multiple sources. Why? Well, because it's how you detect media bias, which is why I've been so impressed with Ground News. It's an app and it's a website and it combines news from around the world in one place. So you can compare coverage and verify information.

[00:22:54] You can check it out at check.ground.news slash Pete. I put the link in the podcast description, too. I started using Ground News a few months ago and more recently chose to work with them as an affiliate because it lets me see clearly how stories get covered and by whom. The blind spot feature shows you which stories get ignored by the left and the right. See for yourself. Check.ground.news slash Pete.

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[00:23:35] So the North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson, a.k.a. Baby Jesus, he has joined with 18 other attorneys general to challenge Trump's executive order that attempts to end birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment and the interpretation by the courts of the 14th Amendment and the law that was passed about the 14th Amendment and about citizenship.

[00:24:04] So here is the statement from Jeff Jackson. Quote, quote, the Constitution leaves no room. For example, I'm doing I'm doing I'm doing his tick tock voice. Have you ever seen his videos? Which, by the way, I did get a message regarding. Hang on. The snowmageddon that hit Charlotte overnight from Mama Tooted, who says. A snow day reminder.

[00:24:33] If you are a bright, new, budding, ambitious congressman or woman, this is the perfect day. To go into work. And then send out a whole bunch of tweets about what you would do. Make that baby Jesus mark on laws and stuff. Right. That's what propelled Jeff Jackson to fame. Remember that? For people who are not aware, this is how Jeff Jackson became this tick tock star.

[00:24:59] It actually started on Twitter where it was a snow day. He was in Raleigh. He's from the Charlotte area. So he was up in Raleigh. It snowed and he was in the legislature. And they were like, it's too much snow. So we can't go to a session or whatever. And so but he was like, I'm here. I'm alone here. And so, oh, while I got the while I have the floor, let me go ahead and pass all this stuff. And so he just starts like tweeting out, I've passed Medicaid expansion for all.

[00:25:28] I've done this. I've done that for the children, for the elderly. But, you know, just like this whole laundry list of left wing wishes and. And. All of the lefties who are all, you know, sitting at home, scrolling through Twitter. With very little content being created, they see this and they're all like, oh, my gosh, slay queen. And they're all like loving on Jeff Jackson.

[00:25:55] And boom, he becomes this sort of overnight star and he gets on to the MSNBC circuit, the CNN circuit. And he's like doing all of the interviews like, oh, my gosh, such a moment. Your tweets went viral. Oh, my gosh, Jeff Jackson. And this engendered some.

[00:26:19] Jealousy among his Democrat colleagues who began calling him, I don't think to his face, baby Jesus. This was the term that they used for him because like there was, you know, because he has he has all the accolades and everybody is celebrating him. But but it's the baby Jesus. Like, what has he actually done yet? Nothing. It's just a baby. He's just laying there in the manger. He's, you know, I understand.

[00:26:48] Anyway, so that's why that's why they started calling him that. So he puts out. But hey, look, he has used it to propel himself into the attorney general's office and previously into a congressional seat. So he says the Constitution leaves no room for executive reinterpretation on this matter. It is clear, settled and binding. This order seeks to undermine that clarity, creating legal uncertainty and denying fundamental rights. To children born in this country.

[00:27:16] As attorney general, my role is straightforward as well to defend the Constitution. That's why I've joined this lawsuit to uphold the rule of law and preserve the rights that have defined our nation for generations. The new executive order, which was signed yesterday, violates the 14th Amendment and Section 1401 of the Immigration and Nationality Act. The 14th Amendment clearly states all persons born or naturalized in the U.S. and subject to the jurisdiction thereof are citizens of the United States.

[00:27:46] Through no fault or action of their own, these children will lose their most basic rights and live under the threat of deportation. It is also unclear how North Carolina parents would be able to document and prove that their newborns are American citizens, since North Carolina birth certificates may not contain the necessary information to satisfy the requirements of the executive order. All right, so that is from Jeff Jackson.

[00:28:15] And I suspect that is the rationale being used by many of the AGs that are party to the lawsuit. I think there are like 22 states that are now suing, and I believe that they are all blue states. A message from Timoteo, who says, For once, the Democrats are right, and it's a damn shame. Trump knows this.

[00:28:40] It's just the first salvo in getting it changed. Right. I think that the people that are advising Trump on this issue, they are well aware of the legal arguments. But this is the test. Like, we are now going to run this thing all the way through, and we are going to get some clear definitions on what this means, how it's applied, and all of that.

[00:29:10] And I am all for it. The immigration system we have in America right now is a mess. All right, that'll do it for this episode. Thank you so much for listening. I could not do the show without your support and the support of the businesses that advertise on the podcast. So if you'd like, please support them too and tell them you heard it here. You can also become a patron at my Patreon page or go to thepcalendorshow.com. Again, thank you so much for listening, and don't break anything while I'm gone. Thank you.