Ken Cuccinelli: We can end birthright citizenship without Constitution amendment

The government’s citizenship chief said Wednesday that there’s no need to amend the Constitution to stop automatic citizenship being granted to immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally, though he said he’s not sure whether President Trump could act alone or if it would take a law from Congress.

Ken Cuccinelli, the acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, said that second issue still needs study, but he said he has a firm belief that the Constitution allows it.

“I do not think you need an amendment to the Constitution. I think the question is do you need congressional action or can the executive act,” said Mr. Cuccinelli, a former attorney general in Virginia who’s seen as a front-runner to be named the next acting secretary at Homeland Security.

He spoke to reporters at a breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor, where he defended his agency’s role in Mr. Trump’s immigration plans.

Mr. Cuccinelli pushed back on critics who say Mr. Trump has closed the door to legal immigration, pointing to some 833,000 people sworn in as citizens over the last year — more than any year under President Obama.

The acting director acknowledged a slowdown in processing some visas, but said that’s a result of the border surge of migrants, which created a glut of new asylum cases that have forced him to divert resources.

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