Appearing on Fox News today, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) fired back at Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-NV) criticism of Republicans like himself who favor changing the 14th Amendment in order to eliminate birthright citizenship for the U.S.-born children of illegal immigrant parents.
Graham was asked about Reid’s statement that Republicans backing this idea — including Graham, who has said he wants to introduce a new constitutional amendment — have “either taken leave of their senses or their principles.”
“Have I taken leave of my senses by looking at a law that rewards people who break our own laws, that incentivizes the next wave of illegal immigration?” said Graham. “Am I being unfair to say that we’re gonna grant citizenship on our terms, not yours? Am I being unfair to say that we don’t want laws in place that will require the third wave of illegal immigrants to be dealt with.
“Most Americans find it odd that if you break our law, come to one of our hospitals, have a child, and that child becomes a citizen and we pay for the hospital pay, you turn around and leave, that that’s not a really logical way to grant citizenship,” Graham continued. “Most Americans are offended that you could buy a visa, come over here, have your baby in America, turn around and leave, and you get citizenship through that process. I don’t think that makes sense. Most countries don’t do it.
“There’re people in Iraq and Afghanistan fighting for their citizenship as green card holders. So I would say to Harry Reid, if you think it’s a good idea not to fix this, then you can’t look the American people in the eye and say we’re dealt with our immigration problems. Because we will have not dealt with our problems.”
