Birthright Citizenship: Is Ted Cruz Flip-Flopping On The 14th Amendment?

Texas conservative senator and Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz recently chimed in on the hotly debated 14th Amendment which grants birthright citizenship to any person born in the United States.

The 14th Amendment states that “all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”

Speaking on Jan Mickelson’s radio show, Ted Cruz spoke about the issue of birthright citizenship. Senator Ted Cruz claimed, “For years I have been leading the fight actually standing shoulder to shoulder with Steve King.”

“People are fed up with politicians who say one thing and do another. They don’t want a campaign conservative who opposes amnesty when they’re running for President but when they’re not running for President goes out and advocates amnesty. They want a consistent conservative who is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.”

Recently, Ted Cruz, along with Donald Trump, revealed that he is in full support for ending the birthright citizenship which is made possible by the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

According to The Hill, Ted Cruz stated that “We should end granting automatic birthright citizenship to the children of those who are here illegally. That has been my position from the very first day of my running for the Senate.”

However, as Huffington Post recently reported, while running for the Senate in 2011, Ted Cruz said that arguments calling for the end of birthright citizenship were not appropriate as it was protected by the 14th Amendment in the U.S. Constitution.

“I’ve looked at the legal arguments against it, and I will tell you as a Supreme Court litigator, those arguments are not very good.”

He continued, “As much as someone may dislike the policy of birthright citizenship, it’s in the U.S. Constitution. And I don’t like it when federal judges set aside the Constitution because their policy preferences are different.”

Back then, Ted Cruz maintained that attention should instead be paid in the U.S.-Mexico border.

“I think it is a mistake for conservatives to be focusing on trying to fight what the Constitution says on birthright citizenship. I think we are far better off focusing on securing the border, because birthright citizenship wouldn’t be an issue if we didn’t have people coming in illegally.”

Did Ted Cruz flip-flop on the birthright citizenship issue?

[Photo by Mark Wilson / Getty Images]