A top government watchdog group released a multipoint plan to protect the homeland and the integrity of U.S. citizenship after the Supreme Court’s 6-3 ruling affirming birthright citizenship as enshrined in federal law.
Conservatives across the country criticized Chief Justice John Roberts, Associate Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Brett Kavanaugh, along with the court’s three liberal justices, arguing that the ruling opens the door to citizenship for children born to foreign nationals illegally present in the U.S. and dilutes American citizenship.
The Oversight Project shared its “Keeping Families Together Plan” with Fox News Digital, arguing the ruling did not grant legal status to the parents of so-called anchor babies, a premise central to its proposal.
“Now that the illegal alien community has achieved weapons of mass reproduction… you need to turn off that multiplying effect. And if the goal of mass deportation is quantitative, which of course it is, you need go [to] places where legal immigration spreads the most or is concentrated the most,” said Mike Howell, an attorney and president of the Oversight Project.
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“That’s why I’ve advocated so long for worksite enforcement,” he said, noting farms and factories need enforcement rather than “playing onesies and twosies” in sanctuary cities.
An increase in deportations, particularly of the parents of potential anchor babies, is key now that unfettered naturalization is a real possibility, he added.
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“Go to ‘red’ places and deport.”
By deporting parents of so-called “anchor babies,” in most cases the child would be deported with the parent — and if not, that parent would have the “moral onus” of abandoning the child, Howell said.
“If you are truly committed to the idea that birthright citizenship is absurd in its application, then it should be preventative,” he added, saying part of the plan to keep foreign families together would entail throwing roadblocks up to pregnant foreigners having children in the U.S.
Positioning ICE at certain hospitals would help prevent that, he said.
Turning to combating “birth tourism” — in which organizations help foreign nationals travel to the U.S. for the purpose of giving birth to U.S.-citizen children — Howell said China is the biggest source of the practice and other economic threats.
Asked how to thread the needle with the U.S.’ economic reliance on Beijing, Howell said Tuesday’s ruling shows it is time to play “hardball.”
He criticized President Donald Trump’s blessing of thousands of Chinese students continuing to study in America, which, in Howell’s words, would “prop up our failing university system.”
“The elite regions of [China’s] upper class love access to the U.S. financial system and coming here and taking advantage of it. And so if you’re negotiating and it’s the art of the deal… take away the thing they want.”
Howell claimed one Chinese billionaire has been “shipping his sperm” to California to inseminate women, resulting in children being born with U.S. citizenship.
“What kind of serious country allows [that]?” he said. Reports from outlets, including Fortune, have described wealthy Chinese businessmen engaging in repeated surrogacy arrangements involving American women.
Howell said that despite talk of Trump’s “mass deportation” agenda, the numbers don’t match the boasts so far.
“The fact remains there isn’t a mass deportation campaign underway. And that’s why we’ve been pushing this Mass Deportation Coalition, which has so many members across the country and a policy framework for them to do it,” he said, acknowledging that Trump has had “special interests” buffeting his attempts because they don’t want their workforces deported, and setbacks like the public outcry over agent-involved shootings in Minneapolis that led to “cold feet.”
Asked about the Oversight Project’s plan and Howell’s comments, the White House said Trump remains “totally committed” to protecting the “value of natural-born citizenship.”
“[That] is why, following yesterday’s ruling, he directed Congress to take immediate action to address this. Simultaneously, the administration will double down on our efforts to keep the border secure and deport illegal aliens.”
Spokesperson Abigail Jackson added that the DOJ will prioritize birth-tourism schemes, some of which Howell laid out.
Howell’s plan also includes a veiled shot at Roberts — who, despite being a Republican’s appointee, is often the swing vote in favor of the court’s liberal minority as he was Tuesday.
The George W. Bush appointee famously roiled Republicans after deeming Obamacare constitutional by defining its no-insurance penalty as a “tax,” while writing in the same 2012 ruling that Congress could not force Americans to buy insurance.
“The question is not whether that is the most natural interpretation of the mandate, but only whether it is a ‘fairly possible’ one,” Roberts wrote in NFIB v. Sebelius.
Howell said lawmakers could therefore create a mechanism through congressional reconciliation to punish birth-tourists — but define the penalty as a “tax.”
“Much like the Obamacare plan being upheld as a tax by the Supreme Court, this would survive constitutional scrutiny,” the Oversight Project’s plan read.
The plan also goes further, calling on DHS to suspend all visas for countries like China that engage in birth tourism.
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The key, Howell said, is to start ignoring the noise from the left and from critics and power through the end of the congressional term with attainable goals in mind no matter how controversial critics say they are.
“We took a hit today, a big hit, but the damage can be mitigated and the overall problem can be solved with a lot of political backbone and using the money from the Big, Beautiful Bill quickly and without fear of what the left-wing media might say about it,” he said.
“Reconciliation is a beautiful vehicle to achieve those kind of cost-cutting measures. Obamacare was a tax. The rule is a tax, so why can’t we use a tax here? I’m sure the legal pundits will have much to say about that one,” Howell remarked.
“But by any hook, nook, or cranny, we need to fight this policy,” he went on, adding the mainstream media and some moderates will be lambasting the social repercussions of the plan.
“If the administration’s going to take to the airwaves and say this is like a disgraceful ruling that undermines our sovereignty, then they need to act.”
“The suburban moms will be angry. They will say all that kind of stuff. But I want them to follow through because there’s 77 million Americans who sent Trump back to the White House after everything we went through.”
In the interim, Rep. Andy Ogles IV, R-Tenn., and Sens. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., and Rand Paul, R-Ky., have unveiled constitutional amendment proposals to overturn the court’s ruling, though observers say the efforts appear politically untenable at present.
When asked about characterizations of DHS’ efforts, an agency spokesperson told Fox News Digital, “We disagree with the ruling. Congress must get to work to end birthright citizenship immediately.”
“In President Trump’s first year back in office, more than 3 million illegal aliens have left the U.S. because of the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration, including an estimated 2.2 million self-deportations. As of June 24, we have now deported over 948,000 illegal aliens and arrested over 981,000 illegal aliens,” the spokesperson said, adding that since the first day of Trump’s administration, DHS has been delivering on the promise to “Make America Safe Again” and more than 3 million have been deported.
“Our message is clear: if you come to our country illegally, we will find you, we will arrest you, and we will deport you.”