Jeb Wants ‘Greater Enforcement’ To Prevent Birthright Citizenship ‘Abuse’

Republican presidential candidate former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush speaks during an education summit Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2015, in Londonderry, N.H. (AP Photo/Jim Cole)
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Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) on Wednesday said that the U.S. government needs to better prevent abuse of birthright citizenship, but he stopped short of calling for an end to the practice of automatically granting citizenship to people born in the U.S.

During an interview on Bill Bennett’s radio show, Bush reiterated that birthright citizenship is guaranteed as part of the Constitution, but called for “greater enforcement.”

“If there’s fraud or if there’s abuse, if people are bringing, pregnant women are coming in to have babies simply because they can do it, then there ought to be greater enforcement,” he said. “That’s the legitimate side of this. Better enforcement so that you don’t have these, you know, ‘anchor babies,’ as they’re described, coming into the country.”

Since Donald Trump called for an end to birthright citizenship, numerous presidential candidates have followed suit and supported revoking that right.

But Jeb Bush has resisted that policy position. On Monday, he said that birthright is guaranteed under the Constitution and added, “There are like 10 things I would change in the Constitution with a magic wand.” He later backtracked and clarified that he meant to highlight that changing the Constitution is a long and difficult process.

After Bush’s comments to Bennett on Wednesday, Hillary Clinton criticized him for using the term “anchor babies.”

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