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(TOPEKA, Kan.) – Republican candidate Kris Kobach echoed President Donald Trump's statement that Trump could deny American citizenship to babies born to parents living illegally in the country, thus heightening the focus on immigration in the last days of the race of a governor close to Kansas.
Kobach, Secretary of State of Kansas, is Trump's largest political ally in the state and has advised the White House on domestic security issues. He also made the fight against illegal immigration the cornerstone of his campaign for the governor.
But by backing Trump on whether the president can end citizenship without amending the US Constitution, Kobach broke with some of his Republican colleagues, including US House Speaker Paul Ryan. Like Trump, Kobach has contradicted the jurists who consider the issue as settled long and clear under the 14th Amendment of the Constitution.
"This is one of the most interesting aspects of citizenship. There are many people who are under the false impression that the 14th amendment is ordering it, "Kobach said during an interview with Fox News television. "This is not the case."
He added that Congress could end citizenship or that "the president could do it through a regulation".
Kobach is in a fierce race with Democrat Laura Kelly, Senator of Topeka's veteran state. She said the fight against illegal immigration required detailed congressional legislation, and that Kobach's intransigent approach would hurt the state's economy, particularly in western Kansas and the West Bank. Agriculture.
Kelly's campaign refused Wednesday to comment on Kobach's comments. Ethan Corson, director of the Democratic Party of Kansas, said: "As Republicans like Paul Ryan and jurists from all walks of life have repeated, the President clearly has no power to amend the Constitution by decree.
Patrick Miller, a political scientist at the University of Kansas, said Kobach needed his conservative base to defeat Kelly. He added that the relatively neglected range of birthright citizenship represents a "cooler" angle on immigration issues.
"If you want to give life to some form of advertising, whether you're selling a candidate or a toothpaste, it's sometimes helpful to take a fresh angle to revive interest and commitment," Miller said. "Kobach also likes to push the envelope on a lot of things."
The 14th Amendment begins as follows: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to their jurisdiction are citizens of the United States and the State in which they reside."
Kobach, a lawyer and former law professor, told Fox and his friends on Wednesday that immigrants living illegally in the country were not under the jurisdiction of the United States, allowing Trump or Congress to automatically deny citizenship of their children born in the United States. But a step in the direction of this reflection could well trigger a legal challenge.
States ratified the 14th Amendment after the Civil War to guarantee American citizenship to newly released black slaves. It was then used to secure citizenship for all babies born on American soil after court challenges, including one that had led to a 1898 ruling by the US Supreme Court.
In an interview Tuesday, Trump said he wanted to end citizenship and that he could do it with a decree. Ryan answered in a radio interview saying, "Well, you obviously can not do that." This caused a tweeted reproach on the part of the president.
Trump's comments were also debated on Tuesday by Republican Kevin Yoder and Democratic challenger Sharice Davids in Kansas' 3rd congressional district, where immigration is a major problem. Trump, who narrowly lost the Kansas City area district in 2016, endorsed Yoder, chair of the House's Homeland Security Subcommittee.
During the debate, none of the candidates said directly whether they would support the congressional effort to end citizenship, although Mr. Davids said that a Trump decree would "violate our Constitution" .
When asked after the debate over the end of citizenship, Yoder told reporters that if the US were properly securing their borders, "This is not a problem then."
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