Hillary Clinton warned, in an early 2016 tweet, that Donald Trump would remove birthright citizenship if he became president. The reaction was swift, with many mocking Clinton for what they saw as a histrionic prediction. Others attacked the former Secretary of State for her then-FBI investigation.
Now, close to three years later, Clinton’s tweet has been proven to have merit.
In an interview with Axios set to air this week, Trump said that he was planning to sign an executive order that reversed birthright citizenship, which grants U.S. citizenship to babies born to non-citizens or undocumented immigrants who are delivered on U.S. soil.
Trump claimed that he could eliminate the provision without passing a Constitutional amendment. When pressed by a reporter, Trump said, “You can definitely do it with an Act of Congress. But now they’re saying I can do it just with an executive order.”
Donald Trump also claimed that the United States is “the only country in the world where a person comes in and has a baby, and the baby is essentially a citizen of the United States,” though Axios pointed out that more than 30 other countries provide birthright citizenship.
The proposal has come under fire, and has been described by the president’s critics as a last-minute ploy to help boost Republicans going into the midterm elections. Other critics have called it an unnecessary solution to a non-existent problem.
But as many have pointed out, it was also a proposal that Hillary Clinton appeared to have predicted months before the 2016 election. In a tweet from May of that year, Clinton posted an article predicting that Trump — or other Republican candidates — would make efforts to remove birthright citizenship if they were elected.
FACT: Donald Trump would end birthright citizenship. https://t.co/RJfgxTC2Ou
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) May 5, 2016
At the time, Clinton’s tweet was met with plenty of pushback. Many mocked Clinton for the prediction.
“You just love lying,” one of the top results read.
Since reports surfaced regarding Trump’s plan to end birthright citizenship, many of Hillary Clinton’s supporters have flocked back to her original tweet to point out that her prediction was proven correct. Other supporters lamented that Clinton wasn’t listened to at the time, but was instead drowned out with insults.
Though Donald Trump has announced plans to end birthright citizenship, some experts believe that such an action is beyond his power as president. The right was spelled out in the 14th Amendment, and many experts say that any executive order trying to put an end to it will likely be challenged — and overturned — in federal court.
