Written by Jeff Mason
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden said on Sunday he thought it was appalling that President-elect Donald Trump would try to get rid of birthright citizenship in the United States.
Speaking to reporters at the White House, Biden said the transition to Trump's government appeared to be going smoothly, though he said he believed there was an internal issue with Trump's team related to the handover.
Asked ahead of the anniversary of the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol whether he still believed Trump was a threat to democracy, Biden said he believed what Trump did was a “real threat to democracy.”
Trump falsely claimed he won the 2020 election and urged his supporters to go to the Capitol that day.
“It should not be rewritten,” Biden said on January 6. “I don’t think it should be forgotten.”
Biden said white supremacy was one of many threats facing the United States.
“We are the most multicultural country in the world,” Biden said. “This is why we are so strong. This is why we are who we are.”
Trump told NBC last month that he intends to take executive action on his first day in office to try to end birthright citizenship, which grants citizenship to anyone born in the United States regardless of their parents' immigration status.
“The idea that we're going to change a constitutional birthright — if you're born in the country… you're not a citizen? What happens?” Biden said.
Biden, a Democrat, criticized Trump, a Republican, for encouraging lawmakers not to vote for the bipartisan immigration bill, which Biden supported to strengthen law enforcement at the border. “It's ridiculous. It's ridiculous,” Biden said.
Trump used immigration as a key issue to rally his electoral base in the 2024 elections, which he won, beating Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate.
