Ramaswamy says he’d deport children of undocumented immigrants, calls 14th Amendment ‘contested’

GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said Friday he would deport the children of undocumented immigrants with their families, despite them already being U.S. citizens.

“There are legally contested questions under the 14th Amendment of whether the child of an illegal immigrant is indeed a child who enjoys birthright citizenship or not,” Ramaswamy said after a town hall in Iowa.

Ramaswamy is not the only GOP candidate to question U.S. citizenship rules. Former President Trump announced in late May that on his first day back in office, he would seek to end birthright citizenship by way of an executive order. 

Despite the GOP candidates’ plans, a majority of Americans said the U.S. should continue to provide birthright citizenship in a poll following Trump’s announcement. Only a quarter of those surveyed said it should end, with 15 percent saying they were not sure.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has also pledged to end birthright citizenship. In his immigration plan, DeSantis’s campaign said citizenship rules as practiced now in the U.S. are “inconsistent with the original understanding of 14th Amendment.”

“We will take action to end the idea that the children of illegal aliens are entitled to birthright citizenship if they are born in the United States,” the plan, which is titled “No Excuses,” reads.