Monday offered more evidence that President Trump is as frustrated as the Americans who elected him about the wall the Left has built around the White House to prevent him from securing our borders.

In an interview with Axios, Trump demonstrated just how serious he is about stopping illegal immigration. He wants to end one of the biggest magnets, birthright citizenship, by executive order. Trump said:

“We’re 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 … with all of those benefits. It’s ridiculous… And it has to end.”

I guarantee you that the best lawyers the Left can buy are already drafting lawsuits and left-wing judges are already formulating opinions to stop the president from declaring that the 14th Amendment does not guarantee automatic citizenship at birth.

Here’s the text of the 14th Amendment: "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.“ 

While it has been widely interpreted to provide for birthright citizenship, some constitutional scholars disagree with that view and the exact meaning of the phrase "and subject to the jurisdiction thereof.”

They argue that illegal immigrants and others here temporarily are not fully “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States by virtue of being citizens of another country. Moreover, their children, even if born here, also hold the citizenship of their parents, meaning that their children are not wholly subject to U.S. jurisdiction. 

Birthright citizenship is not the prevailing view of most countries. The Center for Immigration Studies notes, “The overwhelming majority of the world’s countries do not offer automatic citizenship… Over the past few decades, many countries that once did so … have repealed those policies.”

The timing of any action by the president is not clear. But the important point is that President Trump is doing everything he can, and immigration will remain a major issue going forward.

I think it is important that we have this debate, and I like the side we are on.

Conservatives believe that you must be able to defend your borders to have a country. And in this post-9/11 world, we must know who is coming in.

We must also be able to have a conversation about the wisdom of bringing in so many people from other nations without the Left engaging in vicious name-calling and accusations of racism and xenophobia.

Many experts are warning us that most of the jobs that exist in America today, particularly low-skilled jobs, will disappear due to technology. What are all these people supposed to do then? As it is, we are running massive deficits during a time of full employment.

Not having this conversation is the height of irresponsibility.

Troops to the Border

The Pentagon announced that it is deploying 5,200 additional troops to the southern border. That’s a big improvement from the 800 or even 1,000 figure that was floated last week.

Everyone is trying to sort out what we can do to manage the migrant convoy once it reaches the border. While certain laws prevent the U.S. military from interacting with the migrants, U.S. troops can free up Border Patrol agents to do their jobs. 

According to the Washington Examiner, military engineers will be constructing “barriers, walls, fencing and tent cities.” Helicopters will be deployed to “surveil the border, and quickly transport special operations Border Patrol Tactical Units to austere locations." 

During an interview with Laura Ingraham, President Trump was pressed on the issue of asylum. Trump said: "We’re going to build tent cities. We’re going to put tents up all over the place … and they’re going to wait.”

It is really important to remind your friends and family members that the law says we must take in anyone claiming to be an asylum seeker and that they have a right to a court hearing to determine the legitimacy of their case. 

But we know from years of experience that many of them do not show up for their court hearings. Because our immigration system is so chaotic and dysfunctional, the immigration courts are horribly backlogged.

The Left insists that we follow the law to process migrants and give them a court date knowing full well that many won’t follow the law and will never show up. A nation that keeps following this absurd process is like Charlie Brown still trying to kick that football.

By the way, Mexico offered the migrants asylum, along with housing and jobs. They rejected the offer and insisted on entering the United States.