From campaign to court: Trump reports for jury duty in NYC
NEW YORK — Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is taking a break from the court of public opinion to go to … court.
Trump is due to report for jury duty Monday in lower Manhattan. The Republican front-runner said last week before a rally in New Hampshire that he would willingly take a break from stumping on the campaign trail to answer the summons.
The real estate mogul and reality TV star had been called previously but didn’t appear. His campaign said he hadn’t received those summonses.
Michael Cohen, an executive vice president at the Trump Organization and special counsel to Trump, said the summonses had been sent to an address where the New York businessman never lived.
In celebrity-studded New York City, it’s not unusual for famous names to be picked to show up in potential jury pools. Among them have been Tony Danza, Regis Philbin, Spike Lee and Madonna.
On Sunday, Trump was interviewed on NBC’s “Meet The Press,” saying that he would push to end the constitutionally-protected citizenship rights of children of any family living illegally inside the U.S.
“They have to go,” Trump said, adding: “What they’re doing, they’re having a baby. And then all of a sudden, nobody knows…the baby’s here.”
Native-born children of immigrants — even those living illegally in the U.S. — have been automatically considered American citizens since the adoption of the 14th amendment of the U.S. Constitution in 1868.
Trump’s remarks came as his campaign website posted his program for “immigration reform.” Among its details: Making Mexico pay for a permanent border wall. Mandatory deportation of all “criminal aliens.” Tripling the force of immigration officers by eliminating tax credit payments to immigrant families residing illegally in the U.S.
He said that families with U.S.-born children could return quickly if deemed worthy by the government. “We’re going to try and bring them back rapidly, the good ones,” he said, adding: “We will expedite it so people can come back in. The good people can come back.”
Trump did not elaborate on how he would define “good people.” But echoing earlier controversial remarks that Mexico was sending criminals across the border, Trump said a tough deportation policy was needed because “there’s definitely evidence” of crimes linked to immigrants living in the country illegally.
The New York businessman also said he would waste little time rescinding President Barack Obama’s executive actions aimed at allowing as many as 3.7 million immigrants living illegally in the U.S. to remain in the country because of their U.S.-born relatives. Obama’s November 2014 actions were halted by temporary injunctions ordered by several federal courts in rulings challenging his executive powers to alter immigration policies without Congressional approval. The cases could lead to the U.S. Supreme Court.
