Durbin Questions Witnesses During Senate Judiciary Subcommittee Hearing On Birthright Citizenship

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, questioned witnesses in today's Senate Judiciary Subcommittee hearing on birthright citizenship as President Trump continues his threats against it. Durbin pressed Peter Schweizer, President of the Government Accountability Institute (GAI), which he co-founded with Steve Bannon in 2012, about his ridiculous claims that American birthright citizenship policies are being exploited by foreign adversaries, specifically China, as a form of "asymmetric warfare" to undermine U.S. sovereignty.

Mr. Schweizer argued in his written testimony to the Committee that possibly 1.5 million Chinese nationals now hold U.S. citizenship through birthright citizenship.

"Professor Frost [a Professor at the University of Virginia School of Law and the Director of the Immigration, Migration and Human Rights Program] tells us there's a violation of federal law here. If you're using this practice [to] come into the United States and your rejoinder to her is [that] 'Democrats don't pay attention to those laws.' [You said Presidents] Obama, Biden, they don't pay attention to those laws, suggesting that Republicans do. So, give me a number: how many prosecutions under President Trump either in his first term or this term have there been for violation of this practice?" Durbin asked.

Mr. Schweizer could not answer.

"You have some big claims. When it comes to numbers, you ought to be able to tell us how many have been prosecuted," Durbin responded.

Mr. Schweizer again could not back up his claim.

"I'm asking you what the Republican Administration of Donald Trump in his first term or this term have prosecuted under this existing law which you say has created 1.5 million Chinese Americans [or] American Chinese. How many?" Durbin asked.

Mr. Schweizer again could not verify the number.

Durbin then asked Professor Frost if Mr. Schweizer's claims can be backed up-to which Professor Frost responded that she submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request from the Trump Administration to get information about Mr. Schweizer's claims, and she has received no response.

"The premise of this hearing is that the 'Chinese are invading America' through birth surrogates and birth tourism… and yet they won't tell us what this Administration is doing to stop it with the existing law," Durbin said.

Durbin concluded by asking Professor Frost if President Trump's birthright citizenship executive order were to go into effect and found to be valid by the Court, "how would a family go about establishing that they were properly in the United States and citizens under the new executive order?"

Professor Frost responded that there are "a couple of pages of memos from the Social Security Administration, the Department of State, [and] USCIS that they issued this summer if the executive order goes into effect-they're vague…. They say every family must provide 'acceptable evidence' of their own citizenship or immigration status at the time of the child's birth, and if they can't do that, the child isn't a citizen.'"

"What is their documentation of proof?" Durbin asked.

Professor Frost responded they would potentially need to go back generations.

Video of Durbin's questions are available here.

Audio of Durbin's questions are available here.

Footage of Durbin's questions are available here for TV Stations.

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