September 27, 2023

Republicans’ Immigration Proposals Are Shockingly Cruel

The GOP debate was full of draconian ideas.

Ron DeSantis and Vivek Ramaswamy

Ron DeSantis and Vivek Ramaswamy during Wednesday's Republican presidential primary debateMark J. Terrill/AP

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During the second Republican presidential primary debate, Republicans wasted no time latching onto the issue of immigration—even when the moderators’ questions had little to do with it. When asked about the auto workers’ strike, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina swiftly pivoted to the border. “Joe Biden should not be on the picket line,” he said, referring to the president’s recent appearance with striking UAW workers. “He should be on the southern border, working to close our southern border because it is unsafe, wide open, and insecure.” 

Even when the questions did focus on immigration, the GOP candidates generally offered little, if any, substance on the issue. Ilia Calderón of Univision asked former Vice President Mike Pence about the future of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which former President Donald Trump unsuccessfully tried to terminate, but Pence’s responses focused largely on China. When Calderón followed up, he again dodged the question about the Dreamers. The other candidates repeated their usual spiels: Build the wall, (further) militarize the border, bring back the cruel and ultimately failed Remain in Mexico policy, and defund sanctuary cities. 

The most draconian proposal of the evening may have come from Vivek Ramaswamy, who once again called for an end to birthright citizenship for children born in the United States to undocumented immigrants. As I’ve written before, Ramaswamy and other opponents of birthright citizenship consistently misrepresent the history of the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution and ignore years of legal precedent:
[Framers of the 14th Amendment] explicitly carved out exemptions to the birthright citizenship rule for only two groups: children of foreign diplomats and Native Americans under tribal rule; the latter were granted citizenship by Congress in 1924…In 1898, the Supreme Court recognized in United States v. Wong Kim Ark that the San Francisco-born son of two Chinese parents who were not US citizens—they had been deemed ineligible for naturalization under racial laws—was indeed a citizen, regardless of his parents’ immigration status. The 14th Amendment, Justice Horace Gray wrote for the 6-2 majority, “in clear words and in manifest intent, includes the children born, within the territory of the United States, of all other persons, of whatever race or color, domiciled within the United States.”

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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