Rick Santorum on The 14th Amendment & Birthright Citizenship “It’s a Questionable Thing What The Constitution Says”
2016 GOP presidential candidate and former Pennsylvania Senator, Rick Santorum, called into Kilmeade & Friends and was fired up over the Iran Deal. Brian and Santorum also discussed 2016, Hillary Clinton’s e-mails, Donald Trump and immigration.
Listen here:
, what is your take?
“Judges don’t do partisan issues of that nature. This is a serious thing for a judge to request…This is a judge, this is the FBI…these are folks who have much higher standards…than some investigation by some partisan prosecutor or even by the congress. This is clearly showing the American public that there is some fire here and not just smoke.”
Is frustration with Hillary Clinton by the American public part of the reason there are 17 GOP candidates?
“There is a lot of frustration out there in this country….if you look at the fact there are seventeen people it’s because a lot of people are gravely concerned about this country. I am one of them and believe we just can’t sit on the sidelines and do nothing…they understand how grave the situation is on a national security front , with ISIS, with Iran, with Russia, China. These are serious issues that require serious people to be engaged. One of the reasons I decided to do so is because of my national security experience having worked on the Iranian issue for a dozen years being the sponsor of the bill that put sanctions in place on Iran ten years ago. By the way, when I pushed that bill in the senate, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, John Kerry, Barack Obama, all voted against those sanctions.”
Where do you differ with Donald Trump on Immigration: including birthright citizenship:
“He certainly has highlighted the issue by some if his inflammatory rhetoric but the bottom line is we have the only plan out there rated an “A” by all the immigration groups. All of the other plans that have been out there, including Donald Trumps, are not even close to what we have put in place. As far as birthright citizenship, I think it is a questionable thing as to what the Constitution says, but I think a very reasonable interpretation of the Constitution is that the congress has the right to define what people are in the jurisdiction of this country and that’s the key phrase in the 14th Amendment. So my answer is we can change birthright citizenship by statue and I have proposed doing that. I am a first generation American, my father was an immigrant but if we aren’t able to control who has access to this country, people can break the law, come through our borders, over stay their visa and be here and have children and have them anchored to stay in this country, that to me, means you have lost control of your sovereignty and I don’t think our founders and the folks who put in the 14th Amendment had any intention of providing that avenue.”
What do you do with the 11 million illegals here now?
“The answer is you enforce the law. You just have to enforce the law. We have to enforce e-verify…about half the people here illegally…. are here on visa overstays….in part because President Obama is not enforcing the law and sending them back.”
Frustrations over Donald Trump leading the polls:
“You know what, let the campaign run its course. Four years ago I was sitting in Iowa and a guy who was at 29% with a double digit lead was a guy named Rick Perry and I ended up winning eleven states and winning Iowa and Governor Perry ended up with not a single delegate. what I know is five months before an election, lots of things can happen in the meantime and if Donald Trump can sustain it…I tip my hat to him and I give him credit.”
