Trump’s Supreme Court attendance highlights his focus on immigration

[0:00] Now for more on the president's unusual trip down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Supreme Court today, [0:05] I'm joined by our Liz Landers at the White House. So Liz, let's begin with this remarkable [0:10] moment of the president sitting in, essentially as his own executive order is on trial. What do [0:16] we know about what's behind his unprecedented attendance? President Trump has been talking [0:21] about birthright citizenship since he launched his bid for the presidency in 2015. And this has [0:28] become a signature policy for the second Trump administration, immigration policy, and in [0:33] particular, clamping down on both illegal but also legal pathways for immigration in this country. [0:40] They have managed to stop a lot of those southern border encounters, but also at the same time, [0:45] we have seen in the past few months in particular, ICE and CBP agents rounding up people throughout [0:52] different American cities and deporting them. And also Americans have been caught up in some of [0:58] those acts. [0:58] This birthright citizenship is just another example of how the Trump administration [1:04] is clamping down on both these legal and illegal pathways towards citizenship. [1:10] Meanwhile, Liz, I know you've been talking to a number of your Republican sources today. What [1:13] are they telling you about how they're looking at this case and what the political ramifications [1:18] of this court's decision could be for them, especially coming up with the midterm elections? [1:23] I spoke with one Republican who's close to the White House and in particular, [1:26] close to the political shop here. [1:29] This person told me that obviously, if the Supreme Court sided with the president and ruled that [1:35] birthright citizenship is no longer the law of the land, then that would be a big win for the president [1:40] going into the November elections and could fire up his base, who is motivated by this issue of [1:46] immigration. But this person also acknowledged that overall, this doesn't poll well in general with [1:52] the American public. Most Americans do support birthright citizenship. This source pointed me to a [1:58] Quinnipiac poll that came out last December that said that 70% of voters thought that the Supreme [2:04] Court should keep this 1898 ruling in place and just 24% called on the court to reverse it. [2:11] In that same poll, they looked at Trump's overall handling of immigration issues, [2:15] saying that 44% approved while 54% disapproved. Today, we heard some reaction from the president [2:23] as he left the courthouse. He posted on Truth Social a falsehood about birthright [2:28] citizenship, saying that the United States is the only country in the world to allow this. [2:33] Amna, that is not the case. There are a number of countries, including our neighbors to the north [2:37] and the south, Canada and Mexico, that allow birthright citizenship, in addition to Argentina, [2:42] Brazil, Pakistan, Peru, Venezuela, and other places. Amna. [2:46] And Liz, as you've been reporting, the president also continues to lie about some other issues as [2:50] well, including widespread fraud in mail-in voting. Last night, he just signed a related [2:55] executive order. That one delegates more authority to the United States. [2:58] Amna, the president has asked the federal agencies to oversee elections. It's already being met with [3:02] a lot of pushback from some secretaries of state. But what exactly does that attempt to do? [3:07] I want to be clear, Amna, that everyone that I've spoken with, both election attorneys, [3:12] secretaries of state, and other election officials in the country, have said in the last 24 hours to [3:17] me that they do not think that this executive order is legal and will not stand up in court. [3:22] However, what the president is trying to do in this executive order is two things. First of all, [3:27] it's ordering the Department of Homeland Security, [3:29] Secretary, to compile a state citizenship list using information like Social Security data, [3:35] naturalization records, and other immigration records to determine who is eligible to vote. [3:41] Secondly, it would also direct the U.S. Postal Service to create mail ballot envelopes [3:45] with a barcode that would be used to track ballots that are put in through the mail. [3:51] And the United States Postal Service would also have to provide each state with a list of enrolled [3:56] voters who are eligible for absentee. [3:59] Regardless of what this says, though, Amna, the president does not have constitutional authority [4:06] over elections. That is left to the states, and then Congress has a limited role in overseeing [4:11] election administration. One top election official for Pennsylvania, a key swing state, [4:17] the Republican Al Schmidt, he put out a statement saying that he's going to continue to ensure that [4:22] voting is, quote, not impeded by needless barriers justified by phantom threats of ineligible voters [4:29] casting their vote. And he's going to continue to ensure that voting is, quote, not impeded by needless barriers justified by phantom threats of ineligible voters casting their vote. [4:29] And he's going to continue to ensure that voting is, quote, not impeded by needless barriers justified by phantom threats of ineligible voters casting their vote. [4:29] Amna, Maine Secretary of State Shanna Bellows told me or said in a statement that it was laughably unconstitutional, and she is not going to obey this order. [4:38] And Liz, to be clear, this mail-in voting method, it's the same one the president himself has used, right? [4:43] He used this in an election that happened just last week, Amna, a special Florida election. [4:49] He, his wife, the first lady, and their son, Barron, all cast mail-in ballots. [4:54] I asked the president about this last week, asking him why he cast a mail-in ballot if [4:59] he's repeatedly saying that this is not a reliable way of voting. [5:04] He didn't answer that question directly, but just said that he used the mail-in ballot because [5:08] he's the president of the United States, he's busy, and basically that was the easiest option [5:13] for him to use, Amna. [5:14] That's our White House correspondent Liz Landers reporting tonight. Liz, thank you. [5:18] Support journalism you trust. 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