President Trump is dominating the news cycle and the conversation around an issue he clearly thinks is important: immigration law. In an interview with Axios, Trump said he has talked to legal counsel about the possibility of an executive order targeting birthright citizenship — babies born physically in the United States to illegal immigrants.
From a political perspective, this is an excellent idea. For far too long, our immigration system has been taken advantage of in numerous ways by illegal aliens. This particular issue of birthright citizenship for children born to two parents without legal status in the United States has been a hot topic of immigration reform that most (if not all) conservatives support, and less than a decade ago even some mainstream liberals also supported (former Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., in 1993 said "no sane country" would give citizenship to a child born to illegal immigrants).
The narrative of open borders and ignoring the continued invasion by illegal immigrants has been supported only by an increasingly extreme Left that has become the mainstay of the Democratic Party. Trump has consistently maintained an "America First" foreign policy and called for commonsense immigration reform, repeatedly calling on Congress to act.
His emphasis on curing the legal fraud of illegal aliens that seek to circumvent our rule of law will only underscore the wide policy differences between the conservative and liberal platforms with the midterm elections less than a week away, the caravan approaching, and immigration and border control on everyone’s minds.
If Democrats win control of the House next week, they will almost certainly rebuff any good ideas for immigration reform simply because they hate President Trump and don’t want to see him win on this issue.
Trump has again shown he can control and dominate the news cycle, the topic, and especially the liberal Left’s conversation. Everyone is debating and freaking out over the constitutionality of a not-yet-published or even particularized hypothetical executive order.
Have we learned nothing from the “travel ban” executive order hysteria and the subsequent total win for Trump? Have we learned nothing from the “child separation” executive order hysteria and subsequent lack of serious legal challenge because it was manifestly constitutional? Have we learned nothing from all the hysteria?
Wait and see what a future executive order may actually contain before calling it unconstitutional. It’s that simple. But Trump is counting on the mainstream media to panic, like it did today, and he is an expert in framing his words carefully to stir up the national conversation and then framing his actions squarely within his presidential authority. Does the Left really believe he will act in any way he is not absolutely confident is within his Article II executive powers?
Trump may only be keeping the national conversation focused around immigration reform and highlighting why it’s important to keep conservatives in office. If that’s the goal, well, everyone’s talking about it.
And that's another victory for Trump, all thanks to liberal hysteria.
Jenna Ellis (@jennaellisJDFI) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner's Beltway Confidential blog. She is Director of Public Policy at the James Dobson Family Institute. She is a constitutional law attorney, radio host, and the author of The Legal Basis for a Moral Constitution. She can be reached at jenna.ellis@dobsonfamilyinstitute.com.