Trump Aims to End Birthright Citizenship, Says American Citizens With Family Here Illegally May Be Deported

President-elect Donald Trump said in an interview with “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker that “you have no choice” but to deport everyone who is illegally in the U.S., including possibly removing the American citizen family members of those deported.

Trump also said he will move to end birthright citizenship — long enshrined in the 14th Amendment of the Constitution — which would strip rights from those born in the country to undocumented parents.

But, he said, he is open to working with Democrats to pass legislation that would ensure Dreamers — undocumented immigrants who entered the U.S. as children — would be able to remain in the country.

Trump’s comments about his mass deportation plan, a key promise of his presidential campaign, were the most expansive since he won the election in November. The program, he said, will begin with undocumented immigrants who have committed crimes and then advance to “people outside of criminals.” He did not detail which crimes would be included.

“I think you have to do it,” Trump said of his deportation effort. “It’s a very tough thing to do. It’s — but you have to have, you know, you have rules, regulations, laws. They came in illegally. You know, the people that have been treated very unfairly are the people that have been on line for 10 years to come into the country.”

“We have to get the criminals out of our country,” Trump said, later adding: “But we’re starting with the criminals, and we got to do it. And then we’re starting with others, and we’re going to see how it goes.”

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Trump also described scenarios in which U.S. citizens may choose to be deported along with family members in the country illegally. His comments echoed Tom Homan, his pick to serve as border czar in the upcoming administration, in saying that he will be deporting families with mixed immigration status together.

“Let me ask you about another group of people, the estimated 4 million families in America who have mixed immigration status. So I’m talking about parents who might be here illegally,” Welker said, “but the kids are here legally.”

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“We don’t have to separate families,” Trump said. “We’ll send the whole family very humanely, back to the country where they came.”

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On birthright citizenship, Trump said he would seek to repeal it via executive action — which would be certain to spark immediate legal challenges.

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