Birthright Citizenship Becomes an Issue for Republicans

First Read: “Usually, what happens in August tends to stay in August — think Michele Bachmann’s straw poll win in 2011 or Rick Perry electrifying conservatives at the Red State convention that same year. And a year from now, we MIGHT (for emphasis on that word) add the Summer of Donald Trump to this list. But there are some things that happen in August that stick around for another 14 months, and the birthright citizenship debate within the Republican Party could be one of them.”

“Indeed, maybe the most significant storyline over the last 72 hours has been the discussion that Donald Trump started when he unveiled his immigration plan — ending birthright citizenship for the children of undocumented immigrants born in the United States. The GOP field is divided: Trump, Paul, Santorum, Graham, Christie, Carson and Jindal are in favor of ending birthright citizenship; Bush and Rubio are opposed; Kasich has flip-flopped (used to support it now opposes it); and Scott Walker appeared to support but also appeared to walk it back. We always knew that immigration was going to be a hot topic inside the GOP field. But we doubt that anyone was counting on birthright citizenship being a subject we’d be talking about this August.”

Greg Sargent: “The 14th amendment and birthright citizenship rank among the great and defining accomplishments of the Republican Party, back when it was the Party of Lincoln.”