House Speaker Mike Johnson was called out for his response to a reporter who pointed out that the leading World Cup goal scorer on the U.S. Men's National Team is actually a birthright citizen.
The case of star player Folarin Balogun has sparked conversations on birthright citizenship as the Supreme Court prepares to rule on a challenge to the policy. Balogun is eligible to represent the United States solely because he was born on American soil, a right President Donald Trump has sought to end.
Balogun, whose parents are Nigerian, was born in Brooklyn in 2001 after his mother was unable to board a return flight to London late in her pregnancy. Although he never lived in the U.S. and was raised in England, his birthplace automatically granted him U.S. citizenship.
A reporter pressed Johnson on Wednesday about how he reconciles celebrating the U.S. team's success with ongoing efforts to curtail birthright citizenship protections under the 14th Amendment, to which Johnson offered a lengthy and convoluted answer:
“Like all good things, it can be abused, and birthright citizenship goes back to the root of the country, the history of the tradition. You look at the original intent of the Constitution and the founders and what they were doing, of course … they were facing a very different set of circumstances than we’re facing now.”
"We know it has been abused in recent years because people have been literally just come over the border just to have a baby so that they can, you know, avail themselves of the social welfare system of America. As I mentioned, we are the most benevolent nation in the history of the world but this must be done within reason."
"That's why the argument was presented to the Supreme Court. Is it time to reevaluate that? We'll see where the court comes down on it. I think they're going to look at it like originalists, as textualists. I think they're also going to consider the factors that are at issue and the strength and stability of the country."
"The President makes a lot of compelling arguments. I think a lot of people do and we'll see how that shakes out."
Johnson added that he doesn't view these arguments "as inconsistent at all," insisting that it is possible "to celebrate immigration—legal immigration," stressing that his grandfather immigrated to the U.S. "from Sicily with eight siblings."
His next comment betrayed his racial animus, repeating talking points within the "Great Replacement" conspiracy theory that has dominated much of the far-right's approach to immigration policy:
"We embrace that but we also expect people will come, they will follow the spirit and letter of the law, they will assimilate to our country and not try to transplant Sharia law and these other things and change who we are. I think that's a very important thing to American identity and I look forward to the court's opinion."
You can hear what he said in the video below.
Johnson was harshly criticized for his remarks.
Johnson's reaction is reflective of the wider Trump administration's position.
Earlier this week, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was called out for its anti-immigration rhetoric and given a reality check by critics after sharing an image of the U.S. men's World Cup team imploring them to "defend the homeland."
DHS shared a post featuring U.S. men’s national team players celebrating a goal from a 4–1 win over Paraguay, pairing the image with a message for players to “Defend the Homeland. One Nation. One Homeland. One Team.” The post also included the phrase “Our Soil” alongside a U.S. flag emoji, framing the team’s victory in explicitly nationalistic terms.
Critics quickly seized on what they saw as a contradiction between the administration’s rhetoric and the composition of the U.S. team, pointing out that roughly a quarter of the squad was born outside the U.S.
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