Mike Johnson Groans After Finding Out in Real Time That Trump Lost on Birthright Citizenship: ‘Oh Dear!’
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) was visibly bummed out when he learned in real time that the Supreme Court had ruled against President Donald Trump on birthright citizenship on Tuesday.
“Oh dear, what’d they rule?” Johnson asked when he heard during a press conference the ruling was in. He let out a groan that sounded like he was saying “hmmmm” after being told the answer.
“Well, I need to read the opinion, okay. But obviously you could say that’s a textualist, literalist view,” Johnson said. “However, I do think that this has been grossly abused in recent years.”
Johnson said he agreed with Trump that “birth tourism” — where foreigners travel to the USA to give birth to kids who automatically become American citizens — is a “serious problem.” Trump has argued the Fourteenth Amendment aimed to ensure the children of slaves became citizens, but that the amendment has morphed into a “great scam.”
The Supreme Court ruled against Trump in a 6-3 ruling on Tuesday morning.
“Citizenship, then and now, was the right to have rights— to freely participate in our political community. The Framers of the Fourteenth Amendment extended that promise to ‘every free-born person in this land,’” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority opinion. “We keep that promise today.”
Johnson disagreed, and told reporters he believed American citizens are getting ripped off by it.
“It’s become birthing tourism, a trend where you just come onto the soil and have your child and then they’re able to avail themselves of the welfare state and everything else. It’s been abused,” Johnson said. “It’s one of those things that was intended to serve a noble and important purpose, and has been thwarted and overused and abused.”
He said Congress could perhaps pass a law to tighten birthright citizenship, but that he knew that would be difficult to get done. Johnson added he was “very disappointed” by the ruling.
Watch above via Fox News.
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