Dan Mitchinson: US correspondent on President Donald Trump's plan to end birthright citizenship

The US isn't appearing that united over new President Donald Trump's drastic reconfiguration of American policy. 

He's issued dozens of executive orders since taking office yesterday, and says more changes are to come. 

There's already pushback - with 22 states challenging his bid to end birthright citizenship - and many fearing for the justice system after his sweeping pardons of Capitol riot convictions.

US correspondent Dan Mitchinson says American Civil Liberties Union, immigrant organizations and an expectant mother have also taken action against Trump.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
International Correspondence with ins and Eye Insurance, Peace of Mind
for New Zealand Business. Dan Mitchard's a happy new Year
and welcome to the program.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
Thank you and to you too. Andrew.

Speaker 1 (00:12):
I was talking to a Republican strategist yesterday, and I
was talking about all the executive orders and the cavalcade
of executive orders that we're going to were happening and
continue to happen and still continue to happen. And I
did outright ask her how many of these are going
to happen and how many legal legal dispute, how many

(00:33):
of them are going to be disputed legally, and she said, no, no, no,
we're going to He's going to start high and maybe
he might finish low. I don't know. So how many
have been disputed We're one day in well.

Speaker 3 (00:44):
Already the main one has been this court action over
the birthright about what he's doing, or he is trying
to do, is to roll back birthright citizenship. So he's
ordering agencies to refuse to recognize the citizenship of kids
that have been born in this country if a mom
or father is not a US citizen or a legal
permanent resident.

Speaker 2 (01:04):
So boom.

Speaker 3 (01:05):
Already you've got the American Civil Liberties Union on there,
You've got immigrant organizations, You've got an expected mother that
has even filed suit. So I mean cases in the
hours after Trump has signed these executive orders, I think
are kind of expected, and they're already starting to pile up,
and I think you're going to see a lot more.
We over here always judge the president. They say, watch

(01:27):
the first one hundred days. I think with Trump, it's
almost like the first one hundred hours. I mean, the
guy has a stack of things on his desk already,
he's signing.

Speaker 1 (01:34):
Absolutely, he's got a lot of how but at the
end of the day, the constitution and the judiciary can
actually win.

Speaker 3 (01:40):
Exactly because even the top prosecutor in California he filed
a lawsuit on this today and he said, you know what,
you can't do this. It violates the fourteenth Amendment of
our Constitution and the Immigration and Nationality Acts. So under
the amendment, it means anyone that's born here on US
soil automatically becomes a citizen in the country. You'd have
to change the constitution. I don't think Trump is going

(02:01):
to be able to do that. In you know, one
term and that's what he is. He is in a
sense a lane duck president because he can't run again.

Speaker 1 (02:07):
Well yeah, well maybe maybe not. But you know, I
think this is what the strategist said yesterday. You know,
I start high, finished, low, nothing, ventured, nothing one. We'll
have a crack at this and see if it flies,
and we will wait to see as time we'll tell Meanwhile,
one thing he also hinted that very very strongly, to
the point that you think it's a given, is that
he's going to put trade tariffs on two countries in February.

(02:29):
One is Mexico. We can understand that, but boy, he
really doesn't like Justin Trudeau and he doesn't like Canada
because they were mentioned as well.

Speaker 3 (02:37):
No, he doesn't right now, and it's not it's I
think it's it's also going to be Europe. I think
we're going to see this in New Zealand, where you
guys could pay more as well. Basically, he's said, you
know what, we're going to follow through by imposing these
tariffs on Canada, and he said that they're going topose
about a twenty five percent tax on goods that are
coming in both from Canada to or North Mexico to

(02:59):
our south as soon as, like you said, February first,
and he said, don't worry about this. All these important
goods you're not going to feel. And you, being the consumer,
you're not going to feel any of this. Well, of
course you are, because if these guys are paying thirty
percent more in tariffs, this is going to trickle down
to us. So the consumer is going to have to
pay more. It's the way it works, no matter if
you're a Republican or Democrat in any presidency.

Speaker 1 (03:19):
Yes, I don't think people, I quite understand taiffs is
a tax, but the text is not paid. Like if
we're giving you meat, we're selling you meat. We're not
paying your text. It's you guys who pay the text,
and that stops you wanting to buy so much of
our meat. So, in fact, this is a cost put
onto the American.

Speaker 2 (03:35):
People, exactly exactly it is.

Speaker 3 (03:38):
And I think this is going to happen to a
lot of countries, and I think this is going to
come back, and you know, the Republicans are going to
spend this to make it sound good like we're getting
a break, But at the end of the day, just
watch what prices are going to do it, grocery stores,
what cost of furniture, what cars are going to be doing,
what electronics made in China. So I think this is
going to be a big impact for a lot of people.

Speaker 1 (03:57):
And Zuru toys from New Zealand. Don't forget that.

Speaker 2 (03:59):
Now.

Speaker 1 (04:00):
Tell me about Donald Trump's special new button in the
Oval office.

Speaker 3 (04:04):
This is my favorite Trump story because you when you
see a picture of Donald Trump in the office, now,
if you're looking at your television set, you're going to
have to look to his to the left, but it's
on his actually right hand side.

Speaker 2 (04:14):
On the office.

Speaker 3 (04:15):
He has reinstated this button on the desk that alerts
White House staff when he wants a fresh can of
diet coke, nothing else. It is a button strictly for that,
and he had it installed back in twenty seventeen. It
was obviously taken off when Joe Biden came in, but
before he was the inauguration happened. He got this personalized
bottle of his favorite drink directly from Coca.

Speaker 2 (04:37):
Cola, and when he walked into the office for the
first time, they had the button installed. So anytime he does.

Speaker 3 (04:42):
That, he will have a valet that will come in
with a can of coke and the guy goes through.
Nobody knows how many, but he's a huge fan of
coke or diet coke. I should say right now, but
of all the strange things to have installed, no.

Speaker 1 (04:54):
I want one too. In fact, Laura, I want one too.
I want a big butt button here. I don't want
diet coke because that's an a bomb nation. I want
a button. I push it and suddenly an express of
Machiato turns up on my desk. Is that cool?

Speaker 2 (05:05):
It is cool?

Speaker 1 (05:06):
We've done they are there today.

Speaker 3 (05:07):
I can I can imagine what Laura is thinking and
looking at it right now.

Speaker 1 (05:12):
I will tell you what an express of Makaiata is
a bit later on, and you will bring it to
me when I push the button. Thank you, Thank you,
Dan Mitchison.

Speaker 2 (05:21):
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