Florida and New York congressmen on SCOTUS rulings
(CBS, KYMA) - Reps. Carlos Gimenez (R-Fla.) and Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.) spoke with Ed O'Keefe on Face the Nation Sunday about the U.S. Supreme Court's (SCOTUS) rulings.
One of the rulings was on birthright citizenship, which SCOTUS ruled to protect from President Donald Trump's executive order to take it away from people who were born in this country, but whose parents are undocumented immigrants or non-citizens.
As a result of that ruling, Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller said the White House isn't entirely backing off, adding, "American citizenship isn't the birthright of the world, it belongs only and solely to Americans."
When asked how they define American citizenship, or what it means to be an American, Reps. Giminez and Espaillat, who were originally from Cuba and the Dominican Republic, said:
"I'm an American. I mean, I've been here, you know, the vast majority of my life. I think in English, and I love this country. I love this country because of the opportunities and the freedom that has been...it's given me and my family, my children, my grandchildren. And so I have a deep appreciation of what America and the United States, you know, are. I agreed with the Supreme Court interpretation. It's actually pretty well established in law for about 130 years. I also agree, though, that some things, you know, we need to do some things in Congress about this cottage industry of, you know, childbirth citizenship. Bringing, you know, mothers in just to have a child in the United States, and then them flying back. The founding fathers, or the writers of the 14th Amendment, I don't think ever had that in mind. And so that's something that we can fix. But if somebody is born here in the United States and they're under the jurisdiction of the United States, which, if you're here, unless you're a diplomat, you're under the jurisdiction of the United States, that's the law. And so you know, I always felt that that challenge, you know, really was going to fail, and you know, I was proven right, but we do have to...Congress does have to fix some of the things to make it more difficult for somebody just to come to the United States to have a child, to have an American citizen. I think that's abusing the system.
Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-Fla.)
"The birthright citizenship is embedded, obviously, in the 14th Amendment, and the Supreme Court just stated that, although a very tight decision, but it's been handed down to us. The Wong Kim Ark case, back in the late 1800s established that if you were born here, you were a U.S. citizen. And birthright tourism is minuscule, it's almost nonexistent in terms of the volume of cases of people that are born here. 250,000 children would have been impacted yearly by...had the decision gone the other way. But citizenship for me, and being an American, is opportunity. I dream in English and in Spanish. What a great opportunity that is for anybody in this nation to have a shot at moving forward and to live within the parameters of what this nation offers millions of people. What a great nation. Still has hope and opportunity."
Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.)
However, SCOTUS ruled in favor of the Trump Administration to end temporary protection status (TPS) for Haitians and Syrians, but they did say it would be up to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin to decide whether or not to grant someone's status or end it.
This prompted O'Keefe to ask the congressmen what the Trump Administration should do now with the hundreds of thousands of people potentially impacted by SCOTUS' decision, to which they said:
"In the case of Haiti, without a doubt, you know, Haiti is a failed state, and I think that deporting Haitians that are under TPS, right now, back to Haiti would be a huge mistake. I mean, that's the reason why TPS was established to begin with. Just like with Venezuelans, if Venezuelans lose their TPS status, which they have too, we should reinstate that, because of the devastation caused by these earthquakes that happened last week. And so, you know, TPS should not be abused. TPS is what it says, temporary protective status, and if you're here for a number of years, you should change your status from TPS to something else. But by the same token, it is meant to safeguard those that are fleeing countries, which are either failed states, and they would be at risk of going back to them, or countries that really can't handle them right now, as the case of Venezuela, who is, you know, suffered a natural disaster and is having a hard time just maintaining the people that are there. And so, look...TPS, again, is temporary, but when there's good cause for it, it needs to be granted, and I think there's good argument for the people of Venezuela and the people of Haiti to have temporary protective status."
Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-Fla.)
"It will be horrible that you send back people to a condition that doesn't safeguard their lives. I mean, TPS really is offered to people that are in a country where there's a credible fear for their life, or where a natural disaster has occurred, or their life may be in danger because the government wants to incarcerate them or harm them. And so obviously sending them back to a country that is run by gangs is horrible. Sending them back to Venezuela, given the conditions there right now after the earthquake, is also equally troubling. So, we must put all pressures available to ensure that that they're not sent back, and that the mystique of our nation is preserved, which is that this is a land that will provide some help and cover and harbor those that are in dire need of help, because of a natural disaster, because of a dictatorship that wants to incarcerate them or kill them. That's what America is about, and I'm happy that we can continue to advocate for this aspect of America."
Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.)
During the interview, O'Keefe asked the congressmen what their message to immigrants who might want to come to the U.S. to build a better life, and they said:
"My message is to do it the right way. There are, you know, thousands of immigrants that are allowed into the United States every single year....In your country, go to the embassy, the consulate, etc., you know, and sign up to, to immigrate into the United States. Do it the right way, and- and then you will be welcomed with, with open arms. There's a lot of skills that we need here still in the United States, even though we want to make sure that Americans get those jobs, but sometimes you know you do need skills from outside, and by the way, it's not a bad thing to get new ideas, new perspectives coming into the United States from all around the world, because that's what makes America the greatest country in the world. We don't have uniformity of thought, we have diversity of thought, we have diversity of talents from many countries around the world, and that's what made America great. And that will continue to make America the greatest country in the world."
Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-Fla.)
"This nation, as we celebrate the 250th anniversary, still has promise, and I think immigration has been a central part of our ability to move forward as a nation. So I ask those that want to come to our nation that this...bring your ideas, bring your innovativeness, bring your talents, bring your energy, the energy that has displayed itself throughout decades and throughout our history. There's been no period in American history that has not been pushed by immigration forward, even in our most difficult times. It is the influx of new ideas and new energy that makes our country different, and of course, this is a great experiment, and everybody wants to come to America. Do it the right way. There are channels through which you can do it. We will continue to welcome people from all over the world. This is a nation that still has a lot to offer, is still relatively a very young nation, and one that I think has a lot of promise towards the future. I'm happy that my parents, my grandparents, who were both factory workers, brought us here to America. What a great promise. What a great nation."
Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.)
To watch O'Keefe's full interview with the congressmen, click here.
