US Speaker breaks with President Trump about birthright citizenship

Politico reports that House Speaker Paul Ryan on Tuesday broke with President Donald Trump and contested his claims that he could circumvent a constitutional guarantee of citizenship by issuing an executive order to deny the right to babies born in the U.S. to noncitizen parents.

Trump told Axios in an interview released Tuesday that the White House counsel had advised him that there was legal standing to terminate birthright citizenship, and Vice President Mike Pence confirmed that the administration was looking into using executive action as well.

“You know, as a conservative, I’m a believer in following the plain text of the Constitution, and I think in this case the 14th Amendment is pretty clear, and that would involve a very, very lengthy constitutional process. But where we obviously totally agree with the president is getting at the root issue here, which is unchecked illegal immigration.”

Ryan pointed out that Republicans objected when former President Barack Obama tried to use executive orders to make immigration policy, and that the same objection applied in this situation.