AMY GOODMAN: Let’s go to Vice President Mike Pence speaking to Politico on Tuesday.
VICE PRESIDENT MIKE PENCE: What I think the president has made clear is that we are looking at action that would reconsider birthright citizenship. We all know what the 14th Amendment says. We all cherish the language of the 14th Amendment. But the Supreme Court of the United States has never ruled on whether or not the language of the 14th Amendment — ”subject to the jurisdiction thereof” — applies specifically to people who are in the country illegally.
AMY GOODMAN: That’s the vice president of the United States. Professor Jones, can you respond to what he’s saying?
MARTHA JONES: I can, I think with a word of caution, Amy. Vice President Pence is, I think, attempting to distinguish the facts in our present day of a family of unauthorized immigrants who give birth to a child in the United States with the case of Wong Kim Ark, in which Wong Kim Ark’s parents, while not eligible for citizenship, were what we would call authorized or legal immigrants, legal residents in the United States. And I do think this is where the question may turn for us, going forward. Certainly, it appears that the president is prepared to split hairs in this way. Perhaps the Senate is willing to do so, as well. Ultimately, the meaning of this not-very-often-visited provision of the 14th Amendment will be decided by the US Supreme Court.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: But there have been cases subsequently in which the court ruled as to whether the children of undocumented or unauthorized citizens had rights to equal protection or education or other issues, as well, hasn’t there been?
MARTHA JONES: Of course. And you are right to point to a long, more than century-long, clear law practice, custom, that has regarded the children of unauthorized immigrants as citizens of the United States. And I would say this is…