Laura Loomer, a die-hard Trump supporter, is taking a page out of Hillary Clinton’s playbook by going into full birther mode.
'Nikki Haley Is An Anchor Baby Who Is Unqualified To Be US President,” an article posted to her website on Christmas Eve insists. Her piece argues that since her parents were Indian immigrants who didn’t become naturalized U.S. citizens until after her birth, Haley is an “anchor baby” with birthright citizenship and doesn’t qualify as a “natural born citizen."
She shared her article on X/Twitter, and users promptly flagged it with a Community Note.
NEW:@NikkiHaley Is An Anchor Baby Who Is Unqualified To Be US President
— Laura Loomer (@LauraLoomer) December 25, 2023
MUST READ! 👇🏻 https://t.co/7070uvKLqa
Loomer was livid when a Community Note flagged the post. "Why do @CommunityNotes censor factual posts?" she asked in a follow-up post on X/Twitter. "Read this article and see for yourself how this is wrongfully community noted. Natural born citizenship isn’t the same as birthright citizenship."
There were plenty of her supporters agreeing with her, as well as those calling her out for being flat-out wrong.
But what are the facts? Here’s what the Legal Information Institute of Cornell University says on the matter:
A natural born citizen refers to someone who was a U.S. citizen at birth, and did not need to go through a naturalization proceeding later in life. Under the 14th Amendment's Naturalization Clause and the Supreme Court case of United States v. Wong Kim Ark, 169 US. 649, anyone born on U.S. soil and subject to its jurisdiction is a natural born citizen, regardless of parental citizenship. This type of citizenship is referred to as birthright citizenship. One can be a citizen while not being a natural born citizen if, for example, that person gained citizenship through the process of naturalization.
She even claims that Ron DeSantis "seems to support the fact that Nikki Haley is ineligible for the Presidency and Vice Presidency," though this clearly isn't true. Loomer points to a policy page on DeSantis's website that says his administration would "take action to end the idea that the children of illegal aliens are entitled to birthright citizenship if they are born in the United States. Dangling the prize of citizenship to the future offspring of illegal immigrants is a major driver of illegal migration. It is also inconsistent with the original understanding of 14th Amendment, and we will force the courts and Congress to finally address this failed policy."
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But that has nothing to do with Nikki Haley. Loomer fails to make the distinction between legal immigrants and illegal immigrants in her article to support her claim, and there's no indication that Haley's parents were ever in this country illegally.
So why is Loomer playing the birther card? Well, last week, a new poll out of New Hampshire showed Nikki Haley within four points of Donald Trump, and Loomer has decided that Haley is now a legitimate threat to Trump. In other words, Loomer is making a desperate attack on Haley because she's worried that Haley could potentially win New Hampshire. It's the same reason why Donald Trump has spent more time and energy attacking Ron DeSantis and why Trump is attacking Haley more lately.
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