Trump Signals Families With Mixed Immigration Statuses May Be Deported, Vows End to Birthright Citizenship

President-elect Donald Trump during his meeting with Prince William at the Embassy of the United Kingdom’s Residence in Paris, France, on Dec. 7, 2024. Oleg Nikishin/Getty Images

President-elect Donald Trump said in a new interview that he would work to end birthright citizenship and signaled that he could deport families with mixed immigration statuses.

Trump’s mass deportation proposal was a major component of his 2024 presidential campaign, and last month, the president-elect said he would declare a national emergency over the matter.

“I don’t want to be breaking up families, so the only way you don’t break up the family is you keep them together and you have to send them all back,” Trump said in an interview with Kristen Welker on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that aired on Dec. 8.

When asked by Welker about what that could mean for children who are in the United States legally despite that their parents are in the country illegally, Trump responded, “Well, what you’ve got to do if they want to stay with their father—look, we have to have rules and regulations.”

“I think you have to do it,” Trump said, referring to mass deportations. “It’s a very tough thing to do. It’s—but you have to have ... rules, regulations, laws. They came in illegally. You know, the people that have been treated very unfairly are the people that have been in line for 10 years to come into the country.”

Trump also said that he would seek to repeal birthright citizenship, meaning that U.S. citizenship can be acquired by being born in the country, via executive action. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has signaled that it would mount legal challenges to any executive order targeting birthright citizenship.

Trump then said those who committed crimes would be prioritized for deportation, echoing his previous statements about illegal immigration.

“We have to get the criminals out of our country,” Trump said. “But we’re starting with the criminals ... and then we’re starting with others, and we’re going to see how it goes.”

Welker also asked Trump about a policy in his first term under which families could be separated at the border in order to deter would-be illegal immigrants from coming to the border.

“We don’t have to separate families,” he said. “We’ll send the whole family, very humanely, back to the country [from] where they came.”

“It depends on the family,” Trump also said, adding later that “if they come here illegally but their family is here legally, then the family has a choice. The person that came in illegally can go out, or they can all go out together.”

Under the Biden administration, the number of illegal immigrants who have come into the United States has surged, becoming a top issue among American voters and a major part of Trump’s 2024 campaign. The president-elect has not only vowed to initiate a mass deportation plan but also wants to curb the trafficking of drugs, particularly fentanyl, into the country.

Trump in late November warned Canada and Mexico that he would implement 25 percent tariffs on imported goods if either country fails to curb illegal immigration or drug trafficking into the United States.

That prompted a delegation led by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to visit Trump’s Mar-a-Lago, and assurances from top Canadian officials that they would secure the U.S.–Canada border.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, who took office in October, also released multiple statements on social media that her administration is working on curbing migrant caravans. The Mexican government announced on Dec. 4 that officials had made the largest fentanyl bust in the country’s history.