Trump’s crackdown on trans troops: New order nixes preferred pronouns and restricts facility use
President Donald Trump is expected to sign a new executive order restricting transgender troops from serving in the military on Monday. The new order requires Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to update medical standards to ensure they “prioritize readiness and lethality” and take action to “end the use of invented and identification-based pronouns” within DOD, per a White House document reviewed by Fox News Digital. The order also restricts sleeping, changing and bathing facilities by biological sex. It’s not an immediate ban, but a direction for the secretary of Defense to implement such policies. It revokes former President Joe Biden’s executive order the White House argues “allowed for special circumstances to accommodate ‘gender identity’ in the military – to the detriment of military readiness and unit cohesion.” The order builds on another directive Trump issued last week that revoked a Biden-era order allowing transgender people to serve in the military. DEFENSE SECRETARY PETE HEGSETH SAYS ‘NO MORE DEI AT DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE’: ‘NO EXCEPTIONS’ On the campaign trail, Trump promised to reinstate the ban on transgender troops he imposed during his first term. In his inauguration speech, he said he would formally recognize that there are only two genders: male and female. There are an estimated 9,000 to 14,000 transgender service members – exact figures are not publicly available. Between Jan. 1, 2016, and May 14, 2021, the DOD reportedly spent approximately $15 million on providing gender-affirming care (surgical and nonsurgical care) to 1,892 active duty service members, according to Congressional Research Service. The move comes as part of a campaign taken up by Trump and Hegseth to weed out any diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) practices across the military. And GOP lawmakers successfully included an amendment in their 2025 defense policy bill that bans irreversible transgender care for minors in the military healthcare system. WHITE HOUSE OPM ORDERS ALL DEI OFFICES TO BEGIN CLOSING BY END OF DAY WEDNESDAY A day-one order banning DEI policies across the federal government has already sidelined 395 bureaucrats, Fox News Digital reported. An order requiring the federal government to only recognize two genders has prohibited the use of taxpayer money for “transgender services” following reports that some inmates were receiving transgender care funded by the government. Medicaid, in some states, currently covers such treatments. Also, under that order, federal prisons and shelters for migrants and rape victims are to be segregated by biological sex. It would block requirements at government facilities and at workplaces that transgender people be referred to using pronouns that align with their gender. Trump’s team says those requirements violate the First Amendment’s freedom of speech and religion. The order does not issue a nationwide mandate on which bathrooms transgender people can use or which sports competitions they can participate in, though many states have passed laws in those areas.
Hegseth arrives for 1st day at Pentagon stressing Defense’s mission to protect ‘sovereign territory of the US’
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth arrived for his first day at the Pentagon on Monday with a message regarding the Department of Defense’s (DOD’s) mission. Greeted by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. and a gaggle of reporters, Hegseth said it was “an honor to serve on behalf of the president and serve on behalf of the country,” adding, “The warfighters are ready to go.” Hegseth quickly turned to the border crisis, acknowledging how President Donald Trump was “hitting the ground running” with executive orders declaring an emergency at the southern border and designating cartels foreign terrorist organizations. Hegseth said the DOD “snapped to” last week in sending more troops to aid in erecting barriers along the southern border, as well as to “ensure mass deportations,” adding: “That is something the Defense Department absolutely will continue to do.” “He’s made it very clear. There is an emergency at the border,” Hegseth said. “The protection of the sovereign territory of the United States is the job of the Defense Department.” DEFENSE SECRETARY PETE HEGSETH SAYS ‘NO MORE DEI AT DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE’: ‘NO EXCEPTIONS’ Last week, the Defense Department announced 1,500 active-duty service members and “additional air and intelligence assets” were being sent to the southern border “to augment troops already conducting enforcement operations in that region.” When asked if more troops would be deployed to the border now that he is taking the helm, Hegseth said, “Whatever is needed at the border will be provided. Whether that is through state active duty, Title 32 or Title 10, because we are reorienting.” “This is a shift. This is not the way things have been done in the past,” Hegseth said. “The Defense Department will support the defense of the territorial integrity of the United States at the southern border to include reservists, National Guard and active duty with compliance with the Constitution, the laws of our land, and the directives of the commander in chief.” Hegseth, a combat veteran who deployed to Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, Iraq and Afghanistan, said he anticipated more executive orders from the White House later Monday. Those would include orders to remove diversity, equity and inclusion inside the Pentagon, reinstate troops who were “pushed out” over COVID-19 vaccine mandates and to implement the construction of an “Iron Dome for America,” Hegseth told reporters, vowing to comply with Trump’s directives “rapidly and quickly.” “Every moment I am here I am thinking about the guys and gals in Guam, in Germany, in Fort Benning, in Fort Bragg, on missile defense sites and aircraft carriers,” Hegseth said. “Our job is lethality and readiness and warfighting.” TRUMP TO REINSTATE SERVICE MEMBERS DISCHARGED FOR NOT GETTING COVID-19 VACCINE “We hold people accountable. I know the chairman agrees with that,” Hegseth, who most recently was a Fox News host before Trump nominated him to lead the Defense Department, continued. “The lawful orders of the President of the United States will be executed in this Defense Department swiftly and without excuse. We will be no better friend to our allies and no stronger adversary for those who want to test us and try us.” When asked about a wristband he was wearing, Hegseth said he wore it every day to remember Jorge Oliveira, a soldier he served with in Guantánamo Bay when he was a platoon leader. Oliveira was later killed in Afghanistan while Hegseth was there in a separate unit. “It’s these guys that we do this for. Those who have given the ultimate sacrifice,” Hegseth said. The secretary was also asked about assistance for Afghans who worked with the U.S. government. Last week, Trump issued an executive order pausing all U.S. foreign development aid for 90 days pending an assessment into whether the funds align with his administration’s foreign policy. Reuters reported that flights for approximately 40,000 Afghans who were approved for special visas following former President Joe Biden’s botched withdrawal have been suspended as a result. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “We are going to make sure there is accountability for what happened in Afghanistan, and we stand by our allies,” Hegseth said.
Trump officials give ICE goal on number of arrests per day: report
President Donald Trump’s administration is pushing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to increase the number of arrests per day from a few hundred to between at least 1,200 to 1,500 people, according to a new report on Monday. Citing four sources who spoke on condition of anonymity about a purported internal call with ICE officials on Saturday, The Washington Post first reported about the new objective, categorizing the 1,200 to 1,500 daily targets as “quotas.” During the call, each ICE field office was told to aim for 75 arrests per day and that management would be held responsible if the quotas were not reached, they said. The Post also reported that current and former ICE officials said that they are concerned that the quotas make it more likely that agents will “engage in more indiscriminate enforcement tactics or face accusations of civil rights violations.” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt reportedly told the Post via an email that, “your story is false,” but did not elaborate. When asked about the report, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) clarified, telling Fox News Digital, “Goals is the correct phrasing.” ICE ARRESTS NEARLY 1,000 ILLEGAL ALIENS DURING SIXTH DAY OF TRUMP ADMINISTRATION “The bottom line is DHS enforcement, whether they be at the border or the interior, needs to keep and get criminal aliens out of the country,” the spokesperson added. Fox News Digital also reached out to Leavitt and ICE regarding the report. Later in its report, the Washington Post cited another unnamed ICE official who reportedly said that the agency already has a long list of criminal suspects, so agents could continue to target public safety and national security threats to reach the quotas. Last week, acting DHS Secretary Benjamine Huffman rescinded a directive that had prevented ICE from carrying out immigration enforcement at sensitive locations such as churches, schools and doctor’s offices. Huffman said the reversal ensured criminals, including murderers and rapists, cannot use those areas to hide. Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, further defended the decision on Sunday, explaining that many MS-13 gang members are often around age 14 and ICE agents are well-trained and should have the discretion to weed out public safety and national security threats. In an appearance on ABC’s “This Week,” Homan said the number of immigration-related arrests would “steadily increase” as he continues Trump’s mass deportation plan. “The aperture right now is constrained to public safety threats, national security threats as a smaller population,” Homan said. “We’re going to do the same priority base as President Trump’s promise. But as that aperture opens, there’ll be more arrests nationwide.” In sanctuary cities, Homan said, ICE is locked out of jails. That means instead of being able to safely apprehend targets already in custody before they are released back onto the streets, ICE agents must conduct enforcement operations in the community, increasing the risk of collateral arrests of illegal immigrants not charged with violent offenses but who law enforcement find associating with criminal illegal immigrants and take into custody as well. TRUMP’S ICE RACKS UP HUNDREDS OF ARRESTS, INCLUDING ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS ARRESTED FOR HORROR CRIMES “Sweeps don’t occur anywhere,” Homan told Phil McGraw, known as Dr. Phil, inside the ICE Command Center in Chicago on Sunday night. The border czar and television doctor teamed up to showcase on McGraw’s streaming service, Meritt TV, how ICE operations are targeting violent offenders. Another video shared Sunday night showed Dr. Phil questioning an illegal immigrant, a convicted sex offender from Thailand who federal agents took into custody in Chicago. For the past decade, ICE has had a staffing level of about 5,500 officers nationwide dedicated to immigration enforcement, according to the Post. Trump has directed Homeland Security Investigations, the DHS agency focused on counterterrorism, drug smuggling, human trafficking cases and child exploitation, to also assist with immigration enforcement operations. Last week, Huffman also issued a directive giving Department of Justice law enforcement officials in the U.S. Marshals, Drug Enforcement Administration, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and Federal Bureau of Prisons authority to investigate and apprehend illegal immigrants. TRUMP’S ICE RACKS UP HUNDREDS OF ARRESTS, INCLUDING ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS ARRESTED FOR HORROR CRIMES “Thanks to the last Administration’s open border policies, we’ve seen violent criminals and gang members terrorize American communities,” Huffman said in a statement. “Mobilizing these law enforcement officials will help fulfill President Trump’s promise to the American people to carry out mass deportations. For decades, efforts to find and apprehend illegal aliens have not been given proper resources. This is a major step in fixing that problem.”
Trump open to considering re-entry into World Health Organization: ‘They’d have to clean it up’
President Donald Trump said he was open to potentially rejoining the World Health Organization (WHO), just days after he signed a Day One executive order that withdrew the U.S. from the international group. During a rally at Circa Resort & Casino in Downtown Las Vegas, the president told those in attendance that it was unfair a country like China, with a population much greater than the U.S., was only paying a fraction of what the U.S. was paying annually to the WHO. “We paid $500 million a year and China paid $39 million a year despite a much larger population. Think of that. China’s paying $39 million to have 1.4 billion people, we pay $500 million we have – no one knows what the hell we have, does anyone know? We have so many people pouring in we have no idea,” Trump told rally goers on Saturday. COVID LAB ORIGIN IS BECOMING ‘INCRESINGLY CLEAR,’ FORMER WHO ADVISER SAYS “They offered me at $39 million, they said ‘We’ll let you back in for $39 million,’ they’re going to reduce it from [$500 million] to [$39 million], and I turned them down, because it became so popular I didn’t know if it would be well received even at [$39 million], but maybe we would consider doing it again, I don’t know, they have to clean it up a bit.” An analysis of national contributions to the WHO from NPR found that the U.S. pays for roughly 10% of the WHO’s budget, while China pays about 3%. Trump withdrew the U.S. from the WHO in an executive order issued hours after he was sworn into office last week. The president cited reasons such as WHO’s “mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic,” the “failure to adopt urgently needed reforms,” and “unfairly onerous payments” forced on the U.S. During Trump’s first term, in July 2020, he took steps to withdraw the U.S. from the WHO but his successor, former President Joe Biden, eventually reinstated the nation’s participation in the global health initiative. The president’s complaints about the U.S. paying too much to the WHO mirror his complaints about U.S. participation in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), as well. During the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, last week, Trump said he was asking all NATO nations to contribute 5% of their gross domestic products to NATO defense spending. NATO set a threshold of 2% that countries must pay in 2014, but, according to Trump, “most nations didn’t pay” until he began pushing for other countries to contribute more. Still, according to NATO’s Secretary-General Mark Rutte, countries like Spain, Italy and Canada have yet to even meet that 2% contribution. Following Trump’s demands that NATO members spend 5% of their gross domestic product, he questioned whether the U.S. should be spending anything on NATO at all, telling reporters from the Oval Office that the U.S. was protecting NATO members, but those same members are “not protecting us.” “I’m not sure we should be spending anything, but we should certainly be helping them,” Trump said from the Oval Office. The White House declined to comment for purposes of this story.
‘Back to our roots’: Female GOP lawmakers work to win back feminism from the left
EXCLUSIVE: Female Republicans in Congress are fighting to change the decadeslong narrative that paints Democrats as the party of women, hoping it transcends to significant gains in future elections. “We’ve got to get back to our roots of being the party of women,” Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., told Fox News Digital. “I don’t know why we ever allowed the Democrats to hijack the narrative and claim to be the party of women. That’s bull.” Other GOP lawmakers who spoke with Fox News Digital about this story noted that cost of living, a cornerstone issue for Republicans in the last election, was as much a women’s issue as anyone else’s. Republicans have also passed several bills since winning that election that have put women at the focus of conservative policy changes on transgender youth and border security. ‘A BIG RELIEF’: NC RESIDENTS DESCRIBE MEETING WITH TRUMP AFTER FEELING ‘IGNORED’ POST-HURRICANE “You should not let the Democrat Party tell you they’re the party of women if they can’t even define what a woman is. So we are going to continue to be strong advocates for young women and girls, whether that’s in professional spaces, in bathrooms or in sports,” said Rep. Ashley Hinson, R-Iowa, referencing a recently passed bill keeping biological male student athletes out of girls’ sports teams and locker rooms. Hinson said she is “a working mom fighting for other working moms.” “Women are oftentimes the most important decision makers in a household, for example. So, when I’m thinking about economic indicators, how are we going to get more women in the workforce? How can we empower more women and families? How can we support more women in sports?” Hinson posed. Historically, Malliotakis pointed out, it was Republicans who led passage of the 19th Amendment that secured women the right to vote. She also pointed out that it was under President Donald Trump that a museum dedicated to women’s history was authorized. TRUMP WARNS FEMA FACES RECKONING AFTER BIDEN ADMIN: ‘NOT DONE THEIR JOB’ “President Trump authorized in 2020 the Smithsonian Women’s History Museum. And Joe Biden did nothing with it for four years,” Malliotakis said. ” “I’ve been pushing a land transfer for the Smithsonian women’s museum to be built, and I think it makes total sense that we would be the party that would do this, considering our history.” As a voting bloc, women have favored Democrats and the left in recent history. Democrats have also blamed Republicans for the conservative-leaning Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, a move that did appear to translate to electoral success in the 2022 midterms. Progressives were also historically the biggest supporters of the Equal Rights Amendment, legislation that was pushed primarily during the second-wave feminist movement. However, Republican women like Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., are now arguing that bills like hers, which would deport illegal immigrants who commit sex crimes against women and other Americans, are what it takes to protect women. “MAGA is the new feminist,” Mace wrote on X this month. Additionally, Rep. Julie Fedorchak, R-N.D., one of the few Republican women in the 119th Congress’ freshmen class, pointed out that her own story was a testament to GOP meritocracy. “I was the largest vote-getter in my whole state out of anybody, as a woman, as the first congresswoman in our state. So I think more than anything else, people want folks who are primed for the job, who are competent and ready,” Fedorchak said. “The cost of everything, making ends meet, helping women manage their multiple roles, getting government out of their lives, helping reinforce the role of parents…these are things that are women’s issues.”
Senate slated to vote on South Carolina billionaire hedge fund executive to lead US Treasury
The Senate is scheduled to vote Monday afternoon to confirm President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Treasury Department. The Senate voted on Saturday to advance Scott Bessent’s nomination by a 67–23 margin and his confirmation is expected Monday. Bessent recently appeared before the Senate Finance Committee for his confirmation hearing, where he called to extend the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that Trump approved during his first term. “This is the single most important economic issue of the day,” Bessent, a hedge fund billionaire from South Carolina, told lawmakers. TRUMP TREASURY PICK: EXTENDING TRUMP TAX CUTS ‘SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT ECONOMIC ISSUE’ “If we do not renew an extension, then we will be facing an economic calamity,” Bessent said. “And, as always, with financial instability, that falls on the middle and working class.” Bessent cautioned that a “gigantic” middle-class tax increase would occur if the tax cuts expire. Many of the reforms included in the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act are scheduled to end in 2025. Groups like Americans for Prosperity, a grassroots network founded by the billionaire Koch Brothers, claim that millions of Americans will face a hike of more than $1,500 in taxes in 2026 if the cuts are not renewed. GET TO KNOW DONALD TRUMP’S CABINET: WHO HAS THE PRESIDENT-ELECT PICKED SO FAR? But critics of Trump’s tax plan, including Democratic lawmakers like Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and groups like the liberal public policy institute Center for American Progress, argue the cuts only benefited the wealthy and claim the perks failed to reach ordinary workers. However, Bessent said Trump and his administration will create a “golden age” of economic prosperity for all Americans. TRUMP’S TREASURY NOMINEE TURNS TABLES ON SANDERS IN TESTY EXCHANGE ABOUT BIDEN’S OLIGARCHY COMMENTS “Today, I believe that President Trump has a generational opportunity to unleash a new economic golden age that will create more jobs, wealth and prosperity for all Americans,” Bessent said at his confirmation hearing. Trump’s economic plan includes extending the 2017 tax cuts and imposing tariffs ranging from 10% to 20% on all imported goods. For countries like China, that number could go up to 60%. Bessent, who previously wrote an op-ed for Fox News Digital supporting the use of tariffs, backed the Trump administration’s employment of tariffs in multiple exchanges with lawmakers during his confirmation hearing. The Treasury Department is responsible for managing federal finances and oversees agencies that include the IRS.
Mike Lee continues calling for abolition of TSA
Sen. Mike Lee is continuing to call for the abolition of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). “Tired of being groped every time you travel? Abolish TSA,” the senator said in a recent post on X. “Make Airport Security Free Of Sexual Assault Again,” Lee said in another tweet, adding, “Abolish TSA.” TSA OFFICER REPORTEDLY CAUGHT WITH FIREARM IN BUSY ATLANTA AIRPORT IS ARRESTED In another post, he suggested that President Donald Trump should eliminate the TSA. Lee suggests that instead of TSA, airlines could handle passenger screening. “You may be required to undergo a pat-down procedure if the screening technology alarms, as part of unpredictable security measures, for enhanced screening, or as an alternative to other types of screening, such as advanced imaging technology screening,” according to the TSA website. “A pat-down may include inspection of the head, neck, arms, torso, legs, and feet. This includes head coverings and sensitive areas such as breasts, groin, and the buttocks.” The agency was established in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. “The Aviation and Transportation Security Act, passed by the 107th Congress and signed on November 19, 2001, established TSA,” according to the TSA’s website. TSA REVEALS TOP UNUSUAL FINDS AT AIRPORT SECURITY CHECKPOINTS IN 2024 Lee advocated the idea of nixing TSA last year as well. “It’s time to abolish the TSA. Airlines can and will secure their own planes if a federal agency doesn’t do it for them. They’ll do it better than TSA, without undermining the Constitution and with less groping—showing more respect for passengers,” the senator declared in a post last year on March 11. Days later, Lee indicated that he had been subjected to a TSA pat down. SEN MIKE LEE: REPUBLICANS IN CONGRESS MUST IMMEDIATELY ADVANCE TRUMP’S MAGA AGENDA “Update: days after calling to abolish TSA, I got ‘randomly selected’ for the needlessly slow, thorough TSA screening & patdown. Maybe it’s a coincidence. Or not. Impossible to know. That’s part of the problem with having a federal agency in charge of airport security,” he tweeted on March 14, 2024. In December, the senator shared a video of a man being subjected to a pat down. “It’s unsettling knowing that the TSA does this countless times every day, constantly conducting needlessly invasive, warrantless, suspicion-less searches of law-abiding Americans,” Lee wrote when sharing the video. “Please share if you’d like to abolish TSA,” he added.
DeSantis faces GOP resistance to special legislative session on immigration that starts today
A special legislative session called by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to take up a series of proposals to help implement President Donald Trump‘s immigration crackdown gets underway on Monday. However, with pushback from top Republican lawmakers who call the session “premature,” it is unclear if any measures will be considered. DeSantis wants lawmakers to pass bills that would support the president’s flurry of immigration and border executive orders, signed since last Monday’s inauguration, and Trump’s plans for mass deportation of illegal immigrants. ‘THANK YOU RON’ – TRUMP PRAISES DESANTIS IMMIGRATION PUSH IN FLORIDA The governor wants to mandate that Florida’s counties and cities participate in the federal deportation program and wants the power to suspend officials who do not comply. He is also proposing to make it a state crime to enter the nation illegally, and he wants to mandate that people show identification and their immigration status before sending money back home. TRUMP ADMINISTRATION MOVES QUICKLY ON IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT “We’ve got to make sure that we are working hand-in-hand with the Trump administration,” DeSantis emphasized last week in an interview on Fox News’ “Ingraham Angle.” He added that the special legislative session would help “to facilitate the Trump administration’s mission.” Eleven bills were filed on the eve of the special session by Florida lawmakers. Among them are measures to create a state immigration czar and to allow the governor to activate the national and state guards for immigration enforcement. Under Florida’s constitution, if the governor calls for a special session, lawmakers are obligated to show up at the capitol in Tallahassee. However, the top Republicans in the state House and Senate say that while they support Trump’s immigration efforts, the special session is unnecessary with the regularly scheduled legislative session scheduled for early March. “It’s not premature,” DeSantis told Fox News. “We’ve been waiting four years to have a partner in Washington, D.C., on this issue. We have a sense of urgency. We have to get the job done. No more dragging your feet.” DeSantis, who waged a bitter and unsuccessful primary challenge against Trump for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, was praised by the then-president-elect earlier this month. “Thank you Ron, hopefully other governors will follow!” Trump wrote in a social media post after DeSantis announced the special session. However, the pushback by GOP state lawmakers over the calling of the special session is a dramatic turn of events for DeSantis, who long enjoyed massive influence over the Florida legislature, especially after his nearly 20-point re-election in 2022. Following his unsuccessful 2024 White House bid, the lame duck governor does not appear to have the same clout over lawmakers that he once enjoyed. Pushing back against opposition to his plans, DeSantis has warned that any lawmaker who stood in his way over the special session would pay a political price.
Trump order ending birthright citizenship for illegal immigrants is constitutional, expert says
While nearly two dozen states are suing to stop President Donald Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship for the children of illegal immigrants, some legal experts, such as Hans von Spakovsky with the Heritage Foundation, say the order is perfectly legal under the 14th Amendment and should be upheld by the courts. “I strongly believe that Donald Trump is correct, that we need to enforce the 14th Amendment as it was originally intended,” Spakovsky told Fox News Digital. “No doubt there will be lawsuits against it, it’ll get to the U.S. Supreme Court, and if the court follows the actual legislative intent and history, they will uphold what Donald Trump has done.” As Trump has moved quickly to clamp down on illegal immigration, his most controversial move yet was to issue an executive order ending birthright citizenship for children of illegal immigrants. The order titled the “Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship” states that “the privilege of United States citizenship does not automatically extend to persons born in the United States” when that person’s parents are either unlawfully present in the U.S. or when the parents’ presence is lawful but temporary. TRUMP ADMIN HITS BACK AS ACLU LAUNCHES LAWSUIT ON BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP: ‘READY TO FACE THEM’ Twenty-two Democrat-led states and the ACLU are suing to stop the order, arguing that it violates the 14th Amendment, which states, “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.” The lawsuit argues that “the President has no authority to rewrite or nullify a constitutional amendment or duly enacted statute. Nor is he empowered by any other source of law to limit who receives United States citizenship at birth.” However, Spakovsky, who is a senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation and an authority on civil rights and immigration, told Fox News Digital that the 14th Amendment was never meant to include the children of individuals in the country illegally or temporarily and that this broad interpretation has led to widespread “birth tourism” and abuse. He said the key phrase often overlooked today is “subject to the jurisdiction thereof,” which necessitates the immigrants’ loyalties be to the U.S., not to some foreign power. TRUMP’S HOUSE GOP ALLIES PUSH BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP BILL AFTER PROGRESSIVE FURY AT PRESIDENTIAL ORDER “The 14th Amendment has two key clauses in it. One, you have to be born in the United States, but you also have to be subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. All those who push birthright citizenship just point to that first phrase and ignore the second,” he said. “I’ve done a lot of research on this. I’ve looked at the original passage of the 14th Amendment and what that phrase meant subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. According to the original sponsors of the 14th Amendment in Congress was that you owed your political allegiance to the United States and not a foreign government.” CLICK HERE FOR MORE IMMIGRATION COVERAGE “That means that children born of aliens who are in this country, and it doesn’t matter whether they’re here legally, illegally, as diplomats; if their parents are foreign citizens when they are born they are citizens of their parents’ native land, they owe their political allegiance to and are subject to the jurisdiction of those native lands, not the United States. So, they are not citizens of the U.S.,” he said. According to Spakovsky, the 14th Amendment, which was ratified after the Civil War to acknowledge citizenship for former slaves and their descendants, was not used to confer birthright citizenship to illegal aliens until more than 100 years after it was adopted by Congress. PRESIDENT TRUMP’S BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP EXECUTIVE ORDER FACES LEGAL CHALLENGES FROM 22 STATES As Democrats and left-wing groups prepare to launch a legal war with the Trump administration over the order, Spakovsky said he is confident the Supreme Court will rule in Trump’s favor. “The problem with birthright citizenship is it gives rights as an American citizen to individuals who have absolutely no loyalty to and no connection to the U.S. government, our culture, our society,” he said. “The Supreme Court should uphold it because the original meaning of the 14th Amendment is clearly not recognizing birthright citizenship.”
Trump to reinstate service members discharged for not getting COVID-19 vaccine
President Donald Trump will sign an executive order to reinstate service members booted from the military for declining to get COVID-19 vaccine jabs, according to the White House. Those reinstated will be returned to their prior rank, and be provided back pay and benefits. The White House fact sheet indicates that just 43 of the over 8,000 service members discharged over their COVID-19 vaccination status opted to return to the military. This is a breaking news story and will be updated