As President Donald Trump sat in on the Supreme Court hearing on his administration's effort to end birthright citizenship, his niece Mary Trump tweeted a stinger directed at her uncle: “My grandfather was an anchor baby. It turns out the best case against birthright citizenship is Donald.”
Daughter to the president’s eldest brother Fred Trump Jr., Mary Trump has long expressed animus toward her uncle, once saying that he is "utterly incapable of leading this country, and it's dangerous to allow him to do so,” and telling Stephen Colbert that he is “sociopathic.”
In her Tweet, she is referring to the president’s father Fred Trump, who was born in New York to German immigrant parents, at least one of whom migrated under questionable legal circumstances. The term “anchor baby” is used to describe the children of immigrants born on U.S. soil, whose birth is leveraged to provide the parents with legal residency. Mary Trump’s tweet suggests that Fred Trump — and therefore future President Donald Trump — have benefited from the very birthright citizenship the White House is trying to end.
But as of this writing, the Supreme Court has expressed doubt about the government’s position, and it appears that it will uphold the legality of birthright citizenship.
