Sen. Lankford highlights Trump administrations approach to immigration, federal funding

After the Trump administration's executive order targeting birthright citizenship was blocked by federal courts, leaders in Washington D.C. are working to clarify the order's language.

The News 9 team spoke with U.S. Sen. James Lankford about the order, as well as several topics being addressed by the Trump administration.

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Q: The Trump administration's argument hinges on the phrase in the 14th Amendment, "Those born are naturalized and subject to the jurisdiction thereof." Is the argument that the amendment does not apply to illegal immigrants, and do you expect that to go before the Supreme Court?

A: "That is actually the question the Trump administration is raising, what does that phrase in the Constitution mean 'under the jurisdiction thereof?' For instance, the court ruled years ago that if you're a diplomat, and you're in the United States and you have a child, that child does not become an American citizen, because even though they were born in the United States, they are not born under the jurisdiction thereof. What the Trump administration is asking is someone who is not legally present in the country, if they have a child, they're not born under that jurisdiction is the claim of the Trump administration. So they would not be an American citizen. Now, I do have to say that does not include anyone that's Native American, any of our tribal members. That is a social media rumor that there's some push to be able to remove those children from being citizens if you're a Native American ... That is not an issue, that's not even being disputed, nor discussed by the Trump administration."

Q: We're hearing reports about how much money federal taxpayer dollars spent on so many things. These payments were supposed to stop, and it appears they have. Where are we this morning, just even on this one particular issue?

A: "These are called SSP funds. They are shelter and services funds that have been put out by FEMA. You heard the President talking even during the campaign, saying, FEMA funds are being directed towards illegal aliens. That's one of these sets of funds that are out there that are being directed toward housing people who are not legally present. It's happening in New York, in luxury hotels there, it's happening in Chicago, it's happening in Los Angeles, it's also happening in some areas along the border. So the question is, it's one thing to be able to house folks right along the border while they're awaiting their hearing, it's another thing to be able to push them to cities all over the country, and to be able to provide their transportation, to be able to provide housing and other things for them while they're waiting. We still have half a million people who were supposed to go visit with ICE during the Biden administration, who were told to go visit with ICE and were shipped out all over the country and never actually checked in. They have literally disappeared, so some major questions are still outstanding, and the Trump team is trying to follow up, not only on how those FEMA funds were spent, but also following up on individuals to say if you never checked in, where are you?"

Q: You just released your Federal Fumbles report on overspending. It's being called a DOGE playbook, what are some of the most egregious findings in your report?

A: "Every year we do this, and we are grateful for the new emphasis now on trying to be able to find government waste. We've worked on this for years, but this year, we found funds that have gone to the Taliban in Afghanistan, we found funds that went to Hamas through some of the USAID funding, we found funding that went to a Chinese solar company that was supposed to be made-in-America solar panels that were going to a Chinese company for their manufacturing. There are about $10 billion in SNAP funds that were called improper payments. Individuals who don't qualify for SNAP got about $10 billion in SNAP benefits, so we're trying to identify areas to say, 'These are not partisan issues, these should be issues every American,' and certainly every Oklahoman would say, 'we don't want our money going into those places.' Let's spend it wisely. Transportation, education [and] national defense. Let's do the things we're supposed to do, but cut off the things we're not.

Q: Congress has the power of the purse and decides where the money goes, who has the discretionary power to make those decisions?

A: This has been the challenge, but USAID, they have run like an autonomous entity. They don't want to be under the State Department, even under the Biden administration ... They want to run on their own. All kinds of things they put money out towards, just whatever their preference was to be able to put out. Let's target what we should be doing in different foreign aid, that there are legitimate things, but the push now is to put all of that organization underneath the State Department so USAID is not running on its own and just funding anything it wants. There are critical national security things to do in foreign aid, but let's make sure they have the accountability they need.