Donald Trump's
position plans on immigration are "bold, strong and broad," conservative Iowa Rep. Steve King said Monday, and he'd like to add a few more items to it, including legislation to end automatic citizenship at birth.
"The way you start that is you pass the legislation that
puts an end to birthright citizenship," the Republican congressman, who has sponsored such legislation, told CNN "New Day" host Chris Cuomo.
"I think it is constitutionally sound to pass legislation and end birthright citizenship."
Story continues below video.
Beyond that, King said that he, too, has long advocated for a wall or fence to protect the United States' border with Mexico, and he's optimistic after reading Trump's plans for getting Mexico to pay for such a structure.
"I think the tactics are legitimate," said King. "But whether they [the Mexicans] do or don't pay for the wall, as he says in his document, the cost of that wall pales in comparison to not building it."
King also supports pushing for stronger penalties against employers that hire illegal immigrants, and said the reason Congress has not pushed harder on the matter was because the Obama administration would not have enforced the initiative.
"If you're going to punish and find employers, you have to have a Justice Department or a presidential administration that will follow through," said King.
Meanwhile, he said that Trump has "tapped in to the discontent within America," and with people who are "fed up with political correctness, fed up with the disrespect, they are fed up with the delusion of Americanism and they want cultural continuity, they want English as the official language, they want free enterprise to be proud of again."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.