Ted Cruz Explains Why He Once Said It Was A 'Mistake' To Focus On Ending Birthright Citizenship

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on Friday defended his 2011 comments in which he said that it was a "mistake" for conservatives to focus on ending birthright citizenship guaranteed by the 14th Amendment for children of undocumented immigrants. Cruz's recent remarks came after he said on Wednesday that the United States should do just that.

"In 2011, and today, I said we should end birthright citizenship because it doesn't make sense as a policy matter, to be incentivizing and encouraging illegal immigration," Cruz told The Huffington Post on Friday. "My point then was, if we are going to fix this problem, passing a statute on birthright citizenship or passing a constitutional amendment will take a lot of time."

But in 2011, Cruz went beyond a policy argument, saying that the constitutional reasoning for ending birthright citizenship wasn't very good.

"I've looked at the legal arguments against it, and I will tell you as a Supreme Court litigator, those arguments are not very good," he said in 2011. "As much as someone may dislike the policy of birthright citizenship, it's in the U.S. Constitution. And I don't like it when federal judges set aside the Constitution because their policy preferences are different."

As he did four years ago, Cruz said that the United States should focus on securing the border.

"Our first priority needs to be securing the border and enforcing the law, because that we can do," he said.

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