(cache) Donald Trump: A lot people don't think 'anchor babies' are actually U.S. citizens

After weeks of being accused of being light on details for his presidency, Donald Trump announced his immigration plan — the first major policy piece of his campaign — declaring that a nation without defined and defended borders cannot be ... more >

By David Sherfinski - The Washington Times - Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Donald Trump and Fox News host Bill O'Reilly got into a debate over the 14th Amendment in an interview that aired Tuesday evening, with Mr. Trump saying that many people believe “anchor babies” are not actually U.S. citizens.

Mr. Trump, the 2016 Republican presidential candidate, told Mr. O'Reilly he was “wrong” about the 14th Amendment and the concept of “anchor babies.”

“I think it’s going to be proven that you’re wrong,” Mr. Trump said.

“You want me to quote you the amendment? If you were born here, you’re an American — period. Period,” Mr. O'Reilly said.

“But there are many lawyers — many lawyers are saying that’s not the way it is in terms of this,” Mr. Trump said. “What happens is they’re in Mexico, they’re [going to] have a baby, they move over here for a couple of days, they have the baby … but Bill, they’re saying it’s not going to hold up in court.”

Part of Mr. Trump’s recently-released plan to combat illegal immigration is to repeal birthright citizenship, which is guaranteed by the 14th Amendment.

“Now it’s going to have to be tested, but they say it’s not going to hold up in court,” Mr. Trump said. “Regardless, when people are illegally in the country, they have to go. Now the good ones, and there are plenty of good ones — we’ll work it so it’s expedited, we can expedite it where they come back in, but they come back legally.”

“Bill, we have a country — you need borders and you need law. We have no law,” he said.

Mr. Trump acknowledged that amending the U.S. Constitution is a long process and said that would “take too long.”

“I’d much rather find out whether or not anchor babies are actually citizens because a lot of people don’t think they are,” he said. “We’re going to test it out. That’s [going to] happen, Bill.”

Mr. Trump also said part of the solution to illegal immigration is to build a “big, beautiful, powerful wall” on the U.S.-Mexico border.

“It can have a gate, it can have a door, we’ll let people in legally, but we have to stop what’s happening to our country because we’re losing our country,” he said.