Biden says it is awful that Trump is seeking to do away with US birthright citizenship By Reuters

By Jeff Mason

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden said on Sunday he was appalled that President-elect Donald Trump is trying to eliminate birthright citizenship in the United States.

Speaking to reporters at the White House, Biden said the transition to Trump’s administration appeared to be going smoothly, though he said he believed there was an issue with Trump’s team internally regarding the handover.

Asked ahead of the January 6, 2021, anniversary of the attack on the U.S. Capitol whether he still believed Trump was a threat to democracy, Biden said he believed what Trump had done was “a real threat to democracy.”

Trump falsely claimed he had won the 2020 election and urged his supporters to go to the Capitol that day.

“It shouldn’t be rewritten,” Biden said of January 6. “I don’t think it should be forgotten.”

Biden said white supremacy is one of many threats to the United States.

“We’re the most multicultural nation in the world. That’s why we’re so strong. That’s why we are who we are,” Biden said.

Trump told NBC last month that he plans to take executive action on his first day in office to try to end birthright citizenship, which grants citizenship to anyone born in the U.S. regardless of their parents’ immigration status.

“The idea that we’re going to change the constitutional birthright, if you’re born in the country… you’re not a citizen, what’s going on?” Biden said.

Biden, a Democrat, criticized Republican Trump for encouraging lawmakers not to vote for a bipartisan immigration bill that Biden has championed to strengthen border enforcement. “It’s ridiculous, it’s ridiculous,” Biden said.

Trump used immigration as a key issue to rally his base in the 2024 election, which he won over Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee.