Pres. Trump signs exec. orders on birthright citizenship

[0:00] We do want to continue on with our top stories. And in fact, right now, speaking live there in [0:05] the White House, we have this vantage point of President Trump. This shot just now came [0:09] into our newsroom. Let's pop up the audio and listen in. Okay, thank you very much. We have [0:20] a few subjects that we're going to discuss, all important, but one in particular important having [0:25] to do with birthright citizenship. And Will, if you would, maybe you could start it off with what [0:31] Howard's going to be discussing. So a short while ago, sir, you signed an order relating [0:39] to the polysilicon industry. This is a series of trade and tariff actions under Section 232 [0:45] intended to ensure that domestic polysilicon manufacturing is properly supported and protected [0:52] from overseas dumping and offshore threats. Howard can speak more to the details, but polysilicon [0:59] is incredibly important in the chipmaking industry and a number of other industries [1:03] as well. And like many of your previous trade actions, sir, this is intended to ensure that [1:08] we're on-shoring manufacturing capacity, that we're on-shoring our own supply of critical [1:14] products, and that we're protecting American industry from malign foreign actors in that [1:19] space. Thank you. So polysilicon is sort of the foundational product that makes silicon wafers [1:28] that become the AI chips and the chips that are in our phones and everything. So the president's [1:35] policies have brought 50 percent of production into America. But we need the foundational products [1:42] made here. Otherwise, you know, we're making the products here, but we need the supply chain [1:47] here. So this will bring the supply chain here. We're setting prices so that the Chinese can't [1:52] dump anymore. And we're setting tariffs to say, build it here. We've got the industry here. [1:57] It's too small, and it's going to explode under your leadership. [2:00] And we're having massive numbers of, I guess you'd call them factories or plants built having [2:07] to do with the manufacturing of chips more than we've ever had before. Intel, we're very proud [2:14] of. They've done incredible. They've really been an incredible company. But we're doing some [2:20] unbelievable business. Chips will have a big percentage of the chip business by the time I [2:26] leave office, which could be a long time. Who knows? But it could also be fairly quick. [2:31] They say two and a half years. We're going to find out. But I just want to say that it's an honor to [2:36] have worked with a very smart group of people. And we're bringing the chip business back into the [2:41] United States in a very big way. Jameson, do you have anything to say about that? [2:45] Sir, I think you need to put this in the context of everything else that's happening. Manufacturing [2:50] productivity is the highest it's been in years. We haven't seen any growth like this for forever. [2:56] Under President Biden, the last part of his presidency, he lost 220,000 manufacturing jobs. [3:02] The president has stabilized this. Now the manufacturing jobs are going up. So all of these indicators [3:07] on manufacturing are happening. And it's because of tariffs. It's because of trade actions. It's because [3:12] of the investment credits you've given people, the tax credits, everything you're doing, the energy [3:16] policy, all of it is bringing manufacturing back here, protecting American workers and American jobs. [3:21] Well, tariffs are bringing us hundreds of billions of dollars worth of dollars. I mean, just money, [3:28] the money that we've never seen anything like it with no inflation. By the way, everyone said, [3:33] oh, there'll be inflation. We have very low inflation. We brought inflation way down. I inherited the worst [3:39] inflation in the history of our country. They say 48 years, but I say the history of our country [3:44] and from the Biden administration, and we're bringing it way down. So the numbers that of, I mean, [3:52] beyond the money being brought in, the number of factories being built in our country is more now [3:58] than we have ever seen before. There's never been anything like it. And you're going to see the results. [4:04] And you're seeing the results already in construction jobs because they're being built all over the [4:09] country. But in another year, as they start to open, there's never been, we call it the golden age [4:15] of America. And that's what it is. Now, if we could talk, Steve, maybe you could discuss what we're [4:21] dealing with on birthright citizenship. We had a very unfortunate decision in the Supreme Court [4:27] concerning birthright. It was close, but a very, very unfortunate decision. So we're making adjustments [4:35] because it's very unfair. This was done for a different reason. This was done right after the [4:41] Civil War. This was for the babies of slaves. And what's happening now, people are building businesses [4:50] around it from wealthy people are building businesses around birthright citizenship. That's not the way it's [4:56] supposed to work. It's a disgrace. They're buying their way in. And we're not going to let it happen. [5:01] So, Steve, if you will, please. Yes. So today the president signed these two executive orders here [5:06] relating to birthright citizenship and birth tourism. As the president mentioned, the 14th Amendment was [5:13] passed exclusively in the aftermath of the Civil War to ensure that the children of slaves would be [5:19] citizens. It had no other meaning and purpose outside of that. And that's been clear, obviously, [5:24] since the day that it was passed. You can go back and you can read the congressional debates. This is [5:28] not something that's even seriously contested by anybody. The president is using his authority as [5:34] commander-in-chief to sign first an executive order using the new ruling the Supreme Court issued [5:39] to expand the definitions of people who are ineligible for birthright citizenship. [5:44] That includes, for example, alien enemies of the United States, members of foreign terrorist [5:49] organizations and large categories of people who lobby and act on behalf of foreign governments. [5:55] And so with taking this action, it ensures that large numbers of people who wrongly would be getting [6:00] birthright citizenship will no longer be eligible for those benefits. The second action that he's [6:06] taking, which is especially historic, is for the first time ever in American history to ban birth [6:13] tourism. So I want you to really let that sink in. This has been something that people have talked [6:18] about not only for years, but for decades. The idea that people come here pretending to be a tourist, [6:24] pretending to be a visitor, saying they want to go to Disneyland, they want to go visit a monument or go [6:30] to a national park. But the real reason they're here is to have a child, to make that child an automatic [6:36] citizen, leave our country, and then have a U.S. citizen child. It gives them access under this broken system [6:42] to welfare benefits, ultimately to the voting booth, and all the other rights and privileges [6:47] that belong solely to Americans. So that practice of birth tourism is, as of the signing of this [6:54] order, hereby banned. And what that means is that no one in the world is any more allowed to obtain [7:02] a visa for this fraudulent purpose. It is probably, and President Trump has done many historic things [7:08] on immigration, too many to listen now, seal the southern border shut, record deportations, [7:14] record integrity, stopping foreign terrorist entry, record reduction in drug seizures, dismantling [7:20] the criminal cartels, dismantling the gangs, right? Everything he's done that has been so [7:24] unprecedented. I would put this in the top three in terms of importance, because it ends what has been [7:30] one of the gravest and most egregious abuses of the American system, and it keeps American citizenship [7:36] sacred. Thank you. Okay. Mr. President. It's big stuff. That's a big deal. [7:45] Thank you. On the World Tourism Executive Order, what are the plans for enforcement in terms of [7:50] cracking down on World Tourism Hotels that's coming? We're cracking down very big, very big, [7:56] big crackdowns, and this will give us the right to do it in a much more forceful manner. But they've [8:02] taken birthright citizenship, and they've made a joke out of it, and we're actually the only country of [8:07] size. I think just about the only country, period, that does birthright citizenship. I thought we [8:14] were going to win it at the Supreme Court. Unfortunately, we had a bad decision, very [8:18] unfair decision. Our country suffers because of it, and we're ending it a different way. [8:23] Mr. President, at the Supreme Court, John Sauer, the Solicitor General, did not have an answer as to how [8:31] many individuals take advantage of birth tourism. Is there a number that you could say? [8:36] I'll tell you right now, hundreds of thousands, okay? Hundreds of thousands. You have, one man came in [8:44] with a family, said he had 56 children. Another one came in, they said they had 98 children. This was not [8:51] what it was for. This was meant for the babies of slaves. It was right after one week or two weeks [8:57] after the Civil War ended. This wasn't for wealthy, multi-millionaires, billionaires coming in [9:04] and bringing 15, 20, 30 children along with them. It's become a big business, and we're ending that [9:12] business. Please. What makes you confident, Mr. President, that this will pass constitutional? [9:16] I think it will. I think, in fact, I asked a very talented person named Will Scharf, who's standing [9:22] right behind me. Do you want to discuss that, Will? You felt pretty sure that you're strongly about it. [9:28] The law is absolutely clear. What we're talking about, as Stephen said, with respect to birth [9:32] tourism, something that used to happen incidentally, where somebody who happened to be on vacation here, [9:37] went into labor early and had a baby. This was sort of a relatively small problem. What we've seen in [9:44] recent years, though, is organized rings, at times criminal rings, setting up a system whereby [9:50] tens, hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of people can come to this country in an organized [9:56] fashion and give birth here purely for the sake of obtaining birthright citizenship. This order takes a [10:02] number of different actions intended to combat those sorts of organized practices. We look very heavily [10:08] at denying visas to people that we have reason to believe are coming here for that purpose. Visas both [10:15] for putative parents, but also for the people organizing these rings. There's also obviously a law [10:21] enforcement component. We'll have a full fact sheet released on this soon, but what we're doing is [10:25] taking legally validated means that are clearly within our disposal and targeting them square on to this [10:34] birth tourism industry. There's absolutely nothing in here that runs afoul of any of the Supreme Court's [10:39] opinions on the subject. This is, frankly, it's action that's overdue, and I'm thankful that [10:43] President Trump is finally taking decisive action to combat this issue of birth tourism now that it's [10:49] been queued up in the way that it has as a result of the Supreme Court's opinion. [10:53] This should have been done a long time ago. This should have happened years ago, but we're taking care [10:58] of it now. Please. [10:59] Can you help us understand how you distinguish between a tourist and a birth tourist? [11:05] Well, I'll let you discuss it, please. [11:07] Yes, happy to. And so, by the way, that was an excellent presentation. [11:09] Thank you, Stephen. [11:10] For those of you who want to do your research on this, Section 215A of the Immigration and Nationality Act gives the [11:19] President this authority, 215A of the Immigration and Nationality Act. Very rarely used, probably one of the [11:25] strongest laws in the entire federal code gives him this power. And that's not the only, but it's the main [11:30] statutory authority that's being used in this order. So birth tourism is, by definition, a fraud on the [11:37] American system, on the American taxpayer, on the American visa. If you're coming here, and again, your state of [11:43] purpose is that you're a tourist, then by definition, you are here to come for a few weeks, look what we have, [11:50] engage in commerce, and leave. So if you're telling a consular officer you're here as a tourist, but your true purpose and [11:56] intent is to go to a baby mill, give birth, and try to mint an American citizen while you're here, then you're committing [12:03] a fraud against the American government. And by definition, that visa can and should and will be now denied. [12:09] Mr. President, there is a report that you told donors that they need to get J.D. Vance a [12:14] elected in 2028. Is that your official endorsement? No, no. I heard about it a little [12:20] while ago. I think he's great, but we're way too early to even be thinking about that. Okay? [12:27] And Mr. President, Republicans are arguing a lot right now about affordability. [12:32] What is your message on affordability going into the midterm? Well, that's a good question, [12:36] but it's sort of simple to answer. I inherited the highest prices ever. I inherited the worst [12:43] inflation in the history of our country, and we have done an amazing job. And oil prices now are [12:50] coming down very rapidly. If you look at what's going on, it's down to 75. When I started the very [12:58] important excursion into the Islamic Republic of Iran, it was a very important excursion because they [13:04] can't have a nuclear weapon. Otherwise, the whole world would get blown up. We're not going to let that [13:09] happen. Not only us, not only the Middle East. The whole world would have been catastrophic. We had [13:15] no choice. And we had oil down to less than two in many places like Iowa. Oil was down to gasoline. It [13:22] was down at numbers that people hadn't seen in years. $1.85, $1.95. It passed Tuesday. I was in Iowa [13:30] at a stop. And we had $1.95, another one $1.85 a gallon. And we'll see those days pretty soon again, [13:40] based on everything I see, as soon as the war ends. And I think it's going to end pretty soon. [13:47] I don't think they can go much longer. Yeah, please. Has a deal been reached to reopen the Strait of [13:52] Hormones? Well, I don't want to say it has been. It's sort of open right now. [13:56] You know, we have a thing called the blockade headed up by the U.S. Navy. And we control it. [14:02] And now we control it. But they can always shoot something. They always have something or drop a [14:07] mine. And if you have one mine sitting out there, you sort of mess things up because people don't [14:12] want to take their billion dollar boats and accidentally get hit by a mine. But I think we're [14:19] doing very well. I just, you know, I'm involved in the negotiation. I think we're doing fine. [14:23] But it could be soon. Yeah. Mr. President, have you lobbied any of the undecided [14:28] Republicans who will vote tomorrow on Todd Blanche's nomination? [14:31] I will lobby if I need to. I will lobby very, very diligently because he's outstanding. [14:38] He should be good. I mean, I can't imagine he's as good as there is in the country. [14:43] People have such unbelievable respect for Todd Blanche. So hopefully that won't be necessary. [14:49] I spoke to some people. I did. But hopefully it'll all work out very well for the country [14:56] because you're not going to find better than Todd Blanche. [14:58] Will you reach out to Senator Murkowski, Senator Cassidy, for instance? [15:02] Let's see. We need anybody. I'll reach out to whoever I have to. But [15:07] anybody voting against him would be doing a great disservice to the country, please. [15:11] Mr. President, the deadline for Representative Max Miller to [15:14] withdraw from his race is coming up next week. Do you believe you should withdraw this? [15:21] Well, I'm not going to get involved in that. It's a very sad situation. And I know Max very well. [15:28] But it's very, very sad that a situation like that takes place. Yeah. [15:33] Do you think the DOJ should prosecute Dr. Fauci? [15:37] Well, you know, they prosecuted Peter Navarro and they prosecuted Steve Bannon, [15:43] two very decent people over something that essentially was never prosecuted before. [15:49] And there are sort of telltale signs of similarity. And they went to jail for a number of months [15:59] over something that they, I saw one of the analysts said they used to laugh at it in the justice department [16:04] when something like that was referred. But Merrick Garland prosecuted two very [16:10] decent people and sent them to jail. I wasn't president. I would have given him a pardon in two [16:16] seconds. But I wasn't. It was after I left. They waited till after I left. And then they prosecuted [16:22] these two people and they ought to be ashamed of themselves. So when you see that happen, [16:26] you sort of say, maybe he should. What he did is far more serious than a lot of crimes, frankly. [16:32] But they prosecuted two people where nothing like that has ever taken place before. [16:37] Mr. President, on munitions, you posted overnight that the U.S. has a massive amount. [16:44] That's right. And you denied that there were any shortages. [16:47] There is a supplemental request for $21 billion to restock. So why is that request still there? [16:55] Well, because we need more all the time. I mean, we need more. Look, we gave tremendous amount [17:01] to Ukraine. The Biden people did. And they were given free of charge. No charge. No charge. Billions, [17:09] hundreds of billions of dollars. And fortunately, I built up so much during my term. I rebuilt the [17:17] military and also loaded it up with a lot of stuff. And we have certain types of munitions that are very [17:23] powerful, that we have unlimited virtual unlimited supply. We have others where it's a little bit [17:29] tighter. And we're getting them in on a daily basis. As you know, our defense companies are [17:35] building more plans right now than at any point in history. They're building plans for the Patriots, [17:39] for the Tomahawks, for everything. But we have certain types of munitions, which are very, [17:46] they may not be as accurate. They may not be, you know, they're not as elite. We have elite too, [17:51] but we're watching that very closely. But we have certain types which are very powerful and very good. [18:00] And we have an unlimited supply. And so we're in great shape. But with that being said, [18:08] we always want more. We have to have more. We have other things maybe come up. You maybe come up [18:12] and maybe don't come up. Hopefully nothing else does come up. But we're in very good shape. We have [18:17] literally massive amounts of ammunition. Yeah. Mr. President, on Ukraine, President Zelenskyy says [18:24] his country desperately needs long-range missiles or those Patriot missile batteries. Is that something [18:30] that you're saying? Well, I mean, we want missiles too. You know, we, [18:33] when Biden gave him so much, Biden gave $300 billion worth of ammunition. You know, when I left this, [18:41] it was full. And he gave a lot of it away. Now we're rebuilding it. And we're using munitions that [18:48] are very powerful, very good. But we wouldn't have been using them. We could have used something else. [18:53] But these are a little bit older type, equally as effective. And it's things that we have so much. [19:02] Plus, we have supplies of munitions all over the world that if we ever needed them, we'd take that. [19:09] We're supplied all over the world. But we have, we're in very, very good shape. [19:14] Russia seems to have increased their attacks on civilian areas. [19:18] Yeah, I know. That must be a concern to you, Mr. President. [19:20] Well, it's, look, we're not involved from the standpoint, it's, we're separated by an ocean. [19:27] But I hate to see 25,000 young people a month get killed. And that's what's happening. [19:32] Between Russia and Ukraine, they're losing on average 25,000, mostly soldiers, a month. And, [19:39] you know, we're working on it. And I think we're making progress. But it's a violent, [19:45] very violent war. There's a lot of hatred in that war, a lot of hatred between the two leaders. [19:50] I settled eight wars. I thought this would be maybe one of the easier ones, [19:53] and it turned out to be the most difficult. But progress is being made. Thank you very much, [19:58] everybody. Thank you. Thank you very much. [20:07] All right. As you see there, President Trump holding this impromptu Oval Office signing, [20:15] where we were able to hear from him as he's now assigned new executive orders [20:19] having to do with birthright citizenship. And if you're just now joining us here on Live Now from [20:23] Fox, you'll know that we've covered this topic extensively over the last few months and years [20:29] since President Trump has been in office for his second term. He's really been going after [20:34] birthright citizenship. And earlier, we do know this year that an initial order was struck down by the [20:41] Supreme Court. But what I want to do is read out some context here for you if you're just now joining [20:45] us on Live Now from Fox. President Trump, though, signed these two executive orders today seeking to [20:50] narrow birthright citizenship in several different circumstances and intensify the federal crackdown [20:57] on commercial birth tourism. President Trump is also seeking to deny birthright citizenship for [21:03] children born of some former diplomatic staff in the United States and potentially U.S. territories [21:10] in the future. Now, you might wonder why this matters. But again, this is President Trump's second [21:15] attempt to curb birthright citizenship here in the United States. And it is sure to be challenged in court [21:21] as a potential violation of the 14th Amendment, which guarantees citizenship to nearly everyone born in [21:27] America. The U.S. Supreme Court back on June 30th shot down a broader executive order that Trump signed [21:34] on inauguration day to deny automatic citizenship to those born of non-citizens here in the U.S. [21:41] I want to put this up on your screen as well. We have these remarks from the president's side there [21:46] via the rapid response account saying, quote, this, we had a very unfortunate decision in the Supreme Court [21:52] concerning birthright citizenship. So we're making adjustments, end quote. President Trump is signing [21:58] two executive orders to protect the meaning and value of American citizenship after Trump versus [22:03] Barbara, the first executive order on non-exhaustively identifying certain categories of children of [22:09] aliens who are not entitled to birthright citizenship consistent with historical exceptions to birthright [22:15] citizenship recognized by the Supreme Court in Barbara. The second executive order delegates [22:21] presidential authorities to the secretary of state and secretary of homeland security and directs [22:27] them to halt the practice of birth tourism. So the Trump administration again is arguing that this [22:33] ruling still grants him the authority to limit birthright citizenship underneath the longstanding [22:38] exceptions that are recognized by the court. The executive order applies to only future births [22:43] tied to four different categories. This is some additional context that we have from the [22:47] reporters there at Axio saying this children born of former diplomatic staff working on behalf of [22:53] another government while in the U.S. Children of people who are classified as alien enemies, [22:59] including those who don't belong to federally declared terrorist groups. The 14th [23:03] amendment does not apply to invading armies and this designation would expand that category. Number three [23:10] here, those born in U.S. territories, but only if Congress changes the law to end automatic citizenship [23:16] there. A bill seeking to do this was introduced last month but is not expected to pass. This would [23:22] most notably apply to those born in Puerto Rico. And lastly here, children born of mothers who expressly [23:30] and deceptively enter the United States for the sole purpose of having a child here, namely birth tourism [23:36] centers. This order seeks to limit the use of surrogate mothers for this purpose as well. And so once again, [23:42] the administration is arguing that creating this birth tourism exception is permitted because the [23:47] parents' fraudulent misrepresentation of gaining access to the U.S., typically as tourists or workers. [23:53] And so there's a lot more to dive into here and we'll continue to keep you updated with the very latest and [23:59] also hopefully get some of our legal guests on within the upcoming hours to break down the nuances of these two [24:05] new executive orders and what they're attempting to do. Lastly, though, I want to put this up on your [24:09] screen. This is once again via rapid response with President Trump speaking out saying this, [24:14] we're cracking down very big. This will give us the right to do it in much more forceful manner. [24:21] They've taken birthright citizenship and they've made a joke out of it.