Texas Rep. Babin says misinterpretation of the 14th amendment has led to 'birth tourism'

Congressman Brian Babin, R-Texas, says that a misinterpretation of the 14th Amendment has led to a huge immigration problem in the U.S. called "birth tourism."

"This 14th Amendment was written for the children of freed slaves, and for a period of time, section one of the 14th Amendment was properly applied as written and as intended to ensure all American citizens were afforded the sacred constitutional protections that they deserve," Babin said on the Wednesday edition of the "Just the News, No Noise" TV show. 

"In recent decades though, it has been misinterpreted and misapplied," he continued "This specific language in the amendment has led to the implementation of what you just talked about, the practice of birthright citizenship, in which children born to foreign nationals – they could be illegals, they can be tourists, they can be refugees – are automatically granted US citizenship."

Babin explained that this practice is a "boondoggle" called birth tourism. 

He went on to say that he introduced a bill titled the "Birthright Citizenship Act of 2023" to combat this practice.

"Birthright citizenship is nothing but a powerful incentive for continued illegal immigration," Babin stated. "It has been wrongly accepted as law. Many of its supporters claim that the Constitution guarantees that if you just get across the border and have a baby, then that baby is a citizen. They are wrong."