Tom Zawistowski: Congress, States Must Respond After Supreme Court Birthright Citizenship Ruling

Kaitlin Housler
Immigrant families

Tom Zawistowski, founder of the Ohio-based We the People Convention, said he is confident the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Trump v. Barbara will ultimately be overturned through future legal challenges and legislative action.

Appearing on Thursday’s edition of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show, Zawistowski strongly criticized the Court’s decision in the case, in which a majority of the justices held that the Fourteenth Amendment guarantees citizenship to nearly all children born on U.S. soil.

“This will be overturned,” Zawistowski said after host Michael Patrick Leahy compared the ruling to landmark Supreme Court decisions such as Roe v. Wade, Plessy v. Ferguson, and Dred Scott v. Sandford. “This will be challenged in other ways and it will not stand because it’s idiocy.”

Zawistowski also criticized the Court’s reasoning.

“I think it’s really terrible, that the Roberts court once again was so out of touch with just reality, with common sense, and just, digging deep into the legal minutiae, to try to come up with some way to not do the right thing,” he said.

Despite his criticism of the ruling, Zawistowski expressed confidence that policymakers would pursue other avenues.

“We’re gonna fix it at the state level, at the federal level. The Trump people are already doing things. Others are doing things. We can fix this. It’s not gonna stand,” he said.

During the interview, Leahy played audio from Texas State Rep. Brian Harrison (R-District 10), who proposed legislation that would make birth tourism a felony in Texas and prevent the state from issuing birth certificates to children born to non-citizens who are in the country illegally.

Zawistowski praised the proposals as examples of state-level responses.

“I like it. That’s the kind of creative thought we’ve gotta have,” he said. “No matter what we do, the left is gonna sue, sue, and it’s gonna end up back at the Supreme Court. But that’s okay. We want them spending their time, effort, and money, defending against things that we’re eventually gonna win.”

He continued, “I love that idea. And all the red states could do that, and that would very much hamper this birth tourism industry.”

Regarding the proposal to criminalize birth tourism, Zawistowski said, “The fact that they wanna make birth tourism a felony, boy, that’s kind of an interesting twist. I think it could stand up to, because your intention is to defraud the state, and I think it could stand up.”

He added, “These are the kind of ideas we wanna hear, and there’s many other good ones that have been kicking around.”

Zawistowski also argued that the Fourteenth Amendment was being applied beyond its original purpose.

“The 14th Amendment does certain things, and it was intended to make sure that the slaves were citizens. That’s what it was for, not for what they’re using it for now,” he said. “This is a state’s rights issue, like Roe v. Wade, which you mentioned, and we’ll see how this plays out.”

In addition to supporting state legislation, Zawistowski suggested changes to federal immigration procedures aimed at preventing birth tourism before travelers enter the country.

“When you come to the United States and you want a visa to come visit, you have to take certain vaccines and vaccinations and make sure you’re not bringing disease here,” he said. “I think we gotta have a pregnancy test. I think you’ve gotta show a negative pregnancy test 10 days before you leave, or you don’t get in.”

Looking ahead, Zawistowski said he expects Congress to revisit the issue, pointing to planned legislation from Ohio Senator Bernie Moreno (R-OH).

“That’s why Congress needs to act,” he said. “I saw Ohio Senator Bernie Moreno says he’s going to introduce the bill that Harry Reid, the Democratic leader in 1993, put up to end birthright citizenship, and Bernie Moreno’s gonna put it up for a vote and see if the Democrats will pass that.”

Watch:

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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network.

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