BS BULLETIN:
- Rep. David Min suggested Republican task force Chairman Brandon Gill might attempt to revoke his citizenship if Min said something Gill disliked.
- Min cited Gill’s earlier petition urging the Trump administration to deport Rep. Ilhan Omar over statements Gill described as disloyal and harmful to the United States.
- Gill responded dryly: “Don’t worry, I won’t try to revoke your citizenship, Mr. Min.”
A House hearing on birth tourism took a personal turn Tuesday when Democratic Rep. David Min suggested Republican Chairman Brandon Gill might attempt to strip him of his American citizenship.
Min, a California Democrat and birthright citizen, made the accusation while questioning Steven Camarota, director of research at the Center for Immigration Studies.
“Do you think the Constitution allows us to revoke people’s citizenship because we don’t like what they have to say?” Min asked.
“No, I don’t think that makes sense,” Camarota responded.
Min then accused Gill, the Texas Republican who chairs the House Oversight Task Force on Defending Constitutional Rights and Exposing Institutional Abuses, of previously attempting to revoke the citizenship of Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar.
Gill circulated a petition last year calling on the Trump administration to deport Omar, a naturalized American citizen born in Somalia, over remarks and actions he claimed demonstrated greater loyalty to Somalia than the United States.
Min described Gill’s campaign as “the opposite of supporting and defending the Constitution.”
“Some might call it sedition,” he added.
Min then connected the controversy to his own family history.
“My parents were here in America on student visas when I was born,” he said. “They had not become naturalized until after I was born.”
Min argued that President Donald Trump’s attempt to restrict birthright citizenship could have prevented him from becoming an American.
“If Donald Trump and Brandon Gill had had their way, maybe my parents would have been denied their visas,” Min said. “Maybe they would have been deported. Maybe my citizenship would have been denied.”
He then suggested Gill could target him next.
“And maybe if I say something today or beyond that Brandon Gill doesn’t like, he’ll try to revoke my citizenship,” Min said.
Min noted that neither Gill nor any individual member of Congress has the authority to decide who is an American citizen.
“That question is clearly laid out in the Constitution of the United States,” he said.
Min accused Gill of running a task force ostensibly devoted to constitutional rights while pursuing an agenda to remove those rights from others.
After Min yielded the remainder of his time, Gill answered with a single sentence.
“Don’t worry, I won’t try to revoke your citizenship, Mr. Min,” the chairman said.
The exchange occurred during a hearing examining businesses that market American maternity services to foreign women seeking U.S. citizenship for their children.
One subpoenaed witness, Wladimir Lorentz, founder of “Have My Baby in Miami,” repeatedly invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination when questioned about his company’s operations.
Gill argued that the birth-tourism industry exploits immigration law and cheapens American citizenship. Democrats countered that Republican efforts to limit birthright citizenship threaten the guarantees of the 14th Amendment.
MY QUICK TAKE
Min is correct about one thing: Brandon Gill cannot revoke his citizenship. Neither can Donald Trump simply erase it because Min says something they dislike.
But suggesting that he may be the next American loaded onto a deportation plane was quite a leap.
Congress had a subpoenaed witness sitting in front of it who built a business around helping foreign customers obtain American citizenship for their babies—and who responded to basic questions by repeatedly pleading the Fifth.
Somehow, the congressman managed to make himself the person in danger.
Gill’s reply was probably the shortest answer delivered during the entire hearing. It may also have been the most effective.
DBS WIRE SOURCES:
- Mediaite — David Min suggests Brandon Gill may try to revoke his citizenship
- House Oversight Committee — Official birth-tourism hearing page
- House Oversight Committee — Gill opens hearing on confronting birth tourism
