The birthright ruling leaves Trump one clear move

The Supreme Court’s decision in the birthright citizenship case cannot be sugarcoated: It is a disaster.

Illegal immigration drives many of the problems that afflict the nation — cultural decline, political brinkmanship, the rise of socialist and communist policies, social fragmentation, strained schools and hospitals, and damage to the job market, to name only a few.

Getting back on track requires Immigration and Customs Enforcement to focus resources on targets and operations that can yield large numbers of removals.

But birthright citizenship adds a uniquely destructive incentive. It rewards illegal immigration itself by bestowing sacred American citizenship on the children of people who should not be here in the first place.

Birthright citizenship creates a multiplier effect. It turns one act of illegality into a generational claim on the country. To put it in terms some of my more interventionist friends may understand, the proponents of illegal immigration have secured state-sanctioned weapons of mass reproduction.

Even after this setback, much can be done to mitigate the damage. Fortunately, the solution is not only politically viable; it was promised.

The solution is mass deportation, now with a particular focus on illegal aliens who are expectant parents or already have children.

The Supreme Court’s ruling does nothing to grant amnesty to the parents of would-be citizens if those parents are here illegally. Deporting expectant parents shuts off birthright citizenship before it happens.

For illegal aliens who already have children with ill-gotten birthright citizenship, the parents should be deported with their illegal-alien family unit. They can choose to abandon their children in the United States, which would be a condemnable moral failure, or take their children with them.

To make things easier, the Oversight Project has already put together the “Keeping Families Together Plan: How to Deport After the Birthright Citizenship Case.”

The administration remains far off target on fulfilling its mass-deportation agenda. The numbers are not there. Getting back on track requires Immigration and Customs Enforcement to focus resources on targets and operations that can yield large numbers of removals.

That means high-density enforcement.

Worksite enforcement against illegal labor operations at Republican-protected sanctuary farms, factories, and industrial hubs would produce large numbers of arrests and deportations. Enforcement at high-density physical locations obviously yields more results than chasing one alien at a time.

This is not happening at the necessary scale because the special-interest lobby supporting these industries is a major financial backer of the Republican Party.

But as far as I know, no special-interest lobby for the parents of anchor babies funds Republican elections. I have been surprised before, but this should be an easier political fight.

RELATED: 1776, not 1608: What the Supreme Court got wrong on birthright citizenship

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It has been difficult to persuade the Trump administration to turn fully toward worksite enforcement. Perhaps the outrage over the Supreme Court’s decision can now be channeled into concrete action to mitigate the damage.

If the court had ruled the other way, presumably these removals would already be happening. If birthright citizenship for illegal aliens is truly the civilizational threat its critics claim it is, then the Trump administration must use every available tool to address it even under this now seemingly permanent constitutional framework.

Other steps will be necessary to address birthright citizenship gained through means other than crossing the border illegally. Temporary visitors and birth tourism should be targeted. So should more exotic abuses, such as a communist Chinese billionaire allegedly mailing sperm to California to impregnate women and produce American-citizen children for him.

There is no shortage of mitigating measures available: tightening rules for temporary visitors, banning birth tourism, and perhaps even banning the use of the mail system for communist Chinese sperm.

For those here illegally, the answer is more straightforward.

The Trump administration should fall back in love with its signature campaign promise to carry out the largest deportation operation in American history.

Illegal aliens cannot have anchor babies here if they are deported first.

The solution is sitting right in front of us.

Mass deportation.