“I don’t think someone born in this country, even if they’re a sixth generation American, should automatically enjoy all the privileges of citizenship,” says Vivek Ramaswamy, the hard right technology billionaire running for President as a Republican.
Those privileges should be withheld, Ramaswamy says, “until they’ve actually earned it.”
How would these deeply rooted Americans “earn” their right to be American?
“Every high school student who graduates from high school,” Ramaswamy explains, “should have to pass the same civics test that every immigrant has to pass in order to become a citizen of this country.”
Ramaswamy asserts that American citizenship and “all the privileges” it bestows is too easily granted, even to Americans whose great-grandparents were born in the U.S. (See video below, near the end.)
Phillip: You are saying that even though birthright citizenship for you was something in play, you would take it off the table pic.twitter.com/fMguEwvcZ1
— Acyn (@Acyn) July 7, 2023
Ramaswamy was answering a question about “birthright citizenship,” the condition that confers American citizenship upon any person born in the United States, regardless of how their parents entered the country — that is, whether the immigration of the parents was legal or illegal.
Like fellow GOP candidate Ron DeSantis and others, Ramaswamy believes the prize of American citizenship — given solely based on the location of birth — encourages illegal immigration.
Ramaswamy, himself a first-generation American born to immigrant parents, believes that citizenship should not be the automatic birthright of any child born within the borders of the United States.
Nor should the full suite of citizenship’s privileges be available to those Americans who can’t pass the test, though he doesn’t say specifically which rights and privileges he would curtail for the civics flunkers. Under a Ramaswamy presidency, earning American citizenship would have far less to do with where you were born.
.jpg){kind=link}