Kari Lake would deny birthright citizenship to Abe Hamadeh, whom she endorsed

To my absolute shock, Kari Lake supports Donald Trump’s quest to end birthright citizenship.

Lake in January told Univision Arizona that she doesn’t believe the U.S.-born children of undocumented immigrants should become United States citizens.

She is, however, apparently OK with them becoming United States congressmen. But I digress.

Lake wants to end birthright citizenship

Lake’s comment came to light on Monday, in a report by The Arizona Republic’s Morgan Fischer.

“I think a lot of people are coming just to have their children here, and I don't think that was the idea of our founding fathers of the nation,” she said in her Jan. 18 Univision interview.

Lake’s campaign didn’t respond to Fischer’s questions for clarification.

I suppose Lake’s position shouldn’t be a surprise. Donald Trump vowed to sign an executive order ending birthright citizenship in 2016 — as if he had the power to singlehandedly strip innocent infants of their constitutional rights.

He reiterated that vow in 2018, just days before the midterm elections.

This year, he’s again vowed to end birthright citizenship if elected.

Never mind the 14th Amendment. The part that says, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”

Abe Hamadeh wouldn't be a citizen

The U.S. Supreme Court has never directly considered the question of whether the child of undocumented parents is entitled to citizenship by virtue of being born here.

Trump and other immigration hardliners contend those who are here illegally are not “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” — a phrase thought to refer to foreign ministers or enemy combatants stationed on U.S. soil — thus the 14th Amendment doesn’t apply to their children.

I wonder if Abe Hamadeh would agree?

Hamadeh was born in Illinois to two Syrian immigrants who were here illegally, having overstayed their visas the previous year.

It was his existence that years later spared his father from deportation, setting his parents on the golden path to getting the golden ticket: American citizenship.

Would anyone argue that Abe Hamadeh isn’t rightly a U.S. citizen? Or that he doesn’t have something to offer America?

Trump has endorsed his candidacy for Congress. So has Lake, noting that “he’s running for Congress to give back to the community that made him the man he is today.”

Doesn't he have something to offer?

Yet Trump and Lake would deny automatic citizenship to the next Abe.

Because if it’s great to have 11 million or 15 million or 20 million people living among us in the shadows, just think how much more fabulous it would be to have 100 million or more in the shadows — entire future generations of American-born families that would live among us but apart from us?

Certainly, it’s galling that somebody can break into the country and be rewarded with our greatest prized possession: citizenship for their children.

Damage control expert says: Kari Lake may be unfixable

But rather than focusing on the 14th Amendment, perhaps we should focus on the real problem, which is the border — not babies.

Which is our lousy system of tracking visas — not babies.

Which is our unwillingness to embrace reform and create an immigration system that works.

Not babies.

That would create a permanent underclass

Few countries offer birthright citizenship anymore. It’s one of the things that makes us different.

It is, perhaps, a big part of what makes us great, that a baby born here to parents who arrived yesterday has the same rights, the same opportunities and the same obligations as a baby whose relatives came over on the Mayflower.

That’s the beauty of our country. That’s the strength.

Just ask Abe Hamadeh.

Consider, for a moment, that Trump and Lake would give us a permanent underclass of Abes who could never become citizens.

Generation after generation of people who have no allegiance to this country and no stake in what happens here. People who are told to go back to where they came from, even when where they came from is … here.

In our zeal to crack down on illegal immigration, we should be very careful what we ask for.

Reach Roberts at laurie.roberts@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter, at @LaurieRoberts or on Threads at laurierobertsaz.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Kari Lake endorsed Abe Hamadeh, but doesn't support his citizenship