United States President Donald Trump on Wednesday shared on social media the transcript of comments made by an American political commentator about birthright citizenship in the US that described India as being among “hellhole” countries.
The comments were made by Michael Savage on the Newsmax TV channel after hearings in the US Supreme Court about the case pertaining to birthright citizenship.
Savage said that the US Constitution, which guarantees birthright citizenship, had been written before air travel, needless to say, before television, before the internet, before radio, and questioned “how relevant are some of these arguments when people are coming here by airplane in the ninth month of their pregnancy”.
He said the US Constitution cannot be changed because it is “written in stone.”
“A baby here becomes an instant citizen, and then they bring in their entire family from China, or India or some other hellhole on the planet,” the letter states, using language that has drawn attention for its reference to multiple countries, including India.
He added that “there’s almost no loyalty to this country amongst the immigrant class coming in today, which was not always the case”. The immigrants are “not like the European Americans of today and their ancestors”, Savage added.
Savage further said, “I used to be a great supporter of Indians in India until I opened my eyes up to what’s going on here.”
He said that white men “need not apply” for jobs in California, “never mind in high tech” as “you’re not getting a job at high tech in California” despite “what your qualifications are”.
“Your chances are nil,” he added. “You have to be from India or China because almost all the internal mechanisms are set up to [be] run by Indians and Chinese.”
Savage argued that a referendum must be held to determine if birthright citizenship should continue.
He further criticised an attorney associated with the American Civil Liberties Union, accusing her of misrepresenting the issue during Supreme Court arguments.
“Our nation is being overrun with Chinese coming here just to drop a baby on our shore then bring in the entire family,” he said. “How about some common sense in a bankrupt nation? ACLU Attorney Wang is pushing to destroy our national identity, turn us into a colony of China, but it's not limited to China, it's also India.”
Savage argues that the issue of birthright citizenship should not be decided by courts or lawyers but instead be put to a national vote. It cites a social media poll and claims that a majority would support restricting the policy, while also expressing distrust in legal institutions handling the matter.
Savage also criticised the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), accusing it of backing policies that allegedly benefit illegal immigrants over US citizens.
Calling the ACLU lawyers “gangsters with laptops”, he accused them of “damaging the nation more than all mafia families combined.”
“They've robbed us, blind, treated us like second class citizens, let the turd world triumph, stepped on our flag, et cetera.”
On January 21, 2025, Trump directed federal agencies to refuse to recognise citizenship for children who were born in the country to mothers who are in the country illegally or are there legally on temporary visas, if the father is not a US citizen or a green card holder.
The justices heard Trump's appeal of a lower-court ruling from New Hampshire that struck down the citizenship restrictions, one of several courts that have blocked them. The restrictions have not taken effect anywhere in the country.
The lower court described it as “blatantly unconstitutional”.
On April 1, Trump attended the hearing in the Supreme Court, where the matter is now being heard, becoming the first sitting US president to attend such a session.
The justices previously struck down global tariffs Trump had imposed under an emergency powers law that had never been used that way.
Trump reacted furiously to the late February tariffs decision, saying he was ashamed of the justices who ruled against him and calling them unpatriotic.
He issued a preemptive broadside against birthright citizenship and the court on Sunday on his Truth Social platform, referring to "dumb judges and justices" and saying wealthy pregnant women from China and elsewhere come to the US to give birth so their newborns will have American citizenship.
More than one-quarter of a million babies born in the US each year would be affected by the executive order, according to research by the Migration Policy Institute and Pennsylvania State University's Population Research Institute.
While Trump has largely focused on illegal immigration in his rhetoric and actions, the birthright restrictions also would apply to people who are legally in the United States, including students and applicants for green cards, or permanent resident status.
(With inputs from agencies)