Yesterday, the Hill reported that the political momentum is growing for the revocation of the portion of the 14th amendment which automatically grants citizenship upon birth in the country. Until recently, the movement to repeal “birthright citizenship” was once limited to the extreme right-wing fringe of the Republican Party. However, that all changed last week when Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) indicated that he was considering introducing a constitutional amendment that would deny citizenship to the children of undocumented immigrants. Today, former CNN anchor and immigration hawk Lou Dobbs went on Fox News to advocate for the “vigorous enforcement” of immigration laws — which he thinks should include upholding the 14th amendment in its entirety:

DOBBS: I part ways with the senators on that, because I believe that the 14th amendment — particularly in its due process and equal protection clause — is so important, it lays the entire foundation for the Bill of Rights being applied.

KELLY: Well you could repeal part of it and leave the other parts in place. They’re focused on the part that makes you an American citizen automatically upon being born here. [...] Do you support it? The controversy is — what are you gonna do? Criminalize a bunch of babies who are through no fault of their own born in this country to illegals?

DOBBS: I have absolutely maintained for years that the anchor baby issue is one of law. We have a law in which they become U.S. citizens for being born here. If you are going to insist on the rule of law and order — and I do — I have to insist that we recognize those anchor babies as citizens of this country.

Watch it:

After leaving CNN, Dobbs may have taken a softer tone on immigration when he started voicing support for a path to legalization, however, Dobbs once again sided with anti-immigrant zealots when Arizona’s controversial immigration law was passed. Dobbs has described SB-1070 as “entirely defensible” because it “literally mirrors federal” — which it doesn’t. Dobbs also accused the Obama administration of “consciously refusing to ignore immigration law,” despite the fact that deportations are at an all-time high.

Nonetheless, Dobbs draws the line there. When it comes “anchor babies,” a derogatory and “politically charged” term used to refer to the U.S. citizen children of undocumented parents, Dobbs avoids falling into the hypocritical pitfall that “rule of law” politicians like Graham and Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) have recently embraced. Denying the American-born children of undocumented immigrants citizenship would involve either rejecting a monumental constitutional amendment or, as some politicians have suggested, reinterpreting it so that undocumented immigrants and their U.S.-born children are not considered under the jurisdiction of U.S. law. As the Center for American Progress points out, the consequences of either option would be disastrous and, as Dobbs suggests, a perversion of a document that conservatives claim to defend.

Cross-posted on the Wonk Room.

Since the Justice Department sued Arizona over SB-1070, its harsh new anti-immigration law, Republicans have been blasting the Obama administration, saying officials are showing “contempt for the majority of the American people who support Arizona’s efforts.” Sens. Jim DeMint (R-SC) and David Vitter (R-LA) have even introduced an amendment that would prohibit the federal government from “participating in lawsuits seeking to invalidate the recently enacted Arizona immigration law.”

On Wednesday, Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) was on Lou Dobbs’ radio show and went a step further. He agreed with Dobbs’ statement that President Obama is “awfully close” to violating his “oath to protect the Constitution of the United States” by not completely securing the border:

DOBBS: The fact that we’ve witnessed both the Bush administration and now the Obama administration…refuse to secure the borders, refuse to enforce immigration law — at what point does this rise to the level of a breach of oath to protect the Constitution of the United States?

SMITH: I think we’re on the verge of being there right now. … Whatever law they’re not enforcing, I think it comes awfully close to a violation of their oath of office.

Listen here:

Neither Dobbs nor Smith mention the word impeachment, but in the past, a violation of the oath of office has been cited as grounds for such a procedure. During President Bill Clinton’s impeachment trial in 1999, Rep. Henry Hyde (R-IL) said:

The debate about impeachment during the Constitutional Convention of 1787 makes it clear that the Framers of the Constitution regarded impeachment and removal from office on conviction as a remedy for a fundamental betrayal of trust by the President. The Framers had invested the presidential office with great powers. They knew that those powers could be — and would be — abused if any President were to violate, in a fundamental way, the oath he had sworn to faithfully execute the nation’s laws.

For if the President did so violate his oath of office, the covenant of trust between himself and the American people would be broken.

Is Smith really therefore interested in impeaching Obama over the immigration issue?

Yesterday, former CNN anchor Lou Dobbs appeared on Univision’s Al Punto with Jorge Ramos. Throughout the interview, Dobbs struggled to present himself as a moderate and rational voice in politics with an immigration position that has been unwavering:

DOBBS: Jorge, you of all people know that I’ve never been anti-immigrant. As a matter of fact, I believe and have believed throughout in higher levels of immigration into this country if that’s what, as a matter of public policy, is needed in this country. I have been anti-illegal immigration throughout and remain so. But I’m also a man about building solutions rather than watching the radicalism of all factions create just the perpetuation of a problem. [...]

RAMOS: I just want to find out, I mean, I just want to find out if your position on immigration –

DOBBS: — But if you have that kind of cynicism and skepticism Jorge, no answer I give you will satisfy you. I’m telling what I’m telling you, I mean what I say, I’m saying throughout what I’ve said for years: rational, effective humane immigration policy in this country, border security, and port security, and we have solved the problem.

Watch it:

However, Dobbs’ absurd and irrational coverage of the right-wing “birther” conspiracy theory suggests otherwise. Dobbs didn’t just join racist wingnuts in demanding President Obama present his birth certificate, he also went as far as to insinuate that Obama might be an undocumented immigrant on air.

And while Dobbs may now be a “man of solutions” when it comes to immigration reform, he repeatedly bashed the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007 as an “amnesty bill” and falsely reported that “illegal alien gang members are eligible for amnesty,” despite the fact an amendment to the bill specifically stated that any current or former gang members would be deported. The 2007 bill which Dobbs bashed also would’ve adjusted the status of undocumented immigrants without a criminal record who registered with the government, paid a fine and back taxes, had established five years of residency, and proved they had been employed for three years — much like the path to legalization that Dobbs now advocates.

Many have speculated that Dobbs left CNN in part because his support of the “birther” movement incited conflict between himself and CNN’s leadership. However, Lou Dobbs has resorted to accusing Think Progress of conspiring with the White House to carry out “insidious and sordid attacks” simply because he’s “the leading independent voice.” After leaving CNN, he also blamed the “far left” for characterizing him as an “enemy of Latinos.”

Explaining the alarming rise in extremist group activity in 2009, Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) pinned some blame on former CNN anchor Lou Dobbs, Fox News host Glenn Beck, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), and former Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK). Dobbs hit back at the group by referring to Potok as “paranoid.” ABC News reports:

Potok cited talk-show host Glenn Beck for stoking fears that the Federal Emergency Management Agency is running concentration camps, former CNN host Lou Dobbs for incurring fears about supposed Mexican plots to take over the southwestern U.S., Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., for making statements about secret political reeducation camps, and former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin for referring to Obama “death panels” during the health care debate. Bachmann and Beck are also cited by name in the SPLC’s report, but Dobbs and Palin are not.

“These people help to bring completely groundless conspiracy theories from the margins into the mainstream,” said Potok. In a phone interview, Dobbs scoffed at the report. “It’s sad that Mr. Potok insists upon maintaining his paranoia, and I hope that he recovers.” “Beyond that, I have nothing to say about the man,” said Dobbs.

SPLC isn’t the only group that has accused Dobbs of fueling a rise in anti-immigrant hate. Last June, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund released a report that revealed a close correlation between the increasingly volatile immigration debate and a growing number of hate crimes against Latinos and “perceived immigrants.” The report specifically cited Dobbs’ “shrill anti-immigration reform commentaries.” When Dobbs was still on air, Media Matters wrote that Dobbs, along with Beck and Bill O’Reilly, served a “steady diet of fear, anger, and resentment on the topic of illegal immigration.” Dobbs was described as “the one most obsessed with the topic” and was accused of having “hosted some of the most radical immigration opponents, offering them a national platform to disseminate extremist views.” While campaigning in 2008, Obama himself accused Dobbs of “ginning things up” to such an extent that hate crimes against Latinos soared.

Dobbs’ fiery rhetoric has also been directed at opposing the Obama administration. Soon after his departure from CNN, Dobbs announced on his radio show that if health care reform comes close to passing, “we’re going to have to do something quite different” and advised his listeners to “protest physically and visibly in the streets.” Last year, Dobbs also dismissed a report released by the Department of Homeland Security warning about a rise in right-wing extremism as a document similar to those produced in China under Mao Zedong’s oppressive rule.

The Hill reports that Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) indicated this afternoon that he is “meeting with all different kinds of groups” to get input on the immigration reform bill that he is currently drafting with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), including former CNN news anchor Lou Dobbs:

Senate Democrats have reached out to former CNN anchor and prominent illegal-immigration opponent Lou Dobbs in an effort to build broad bipartisan support for immigration reform…Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), who is spearheading the Democrats’ effort to put together a comprehensive reform bill, met with Dobbs on Wednesday.

Winning the support of Dobbs, who became a prominent critic of illegal immigration and proposals to grant amnesty to illegal workers, could provide a significant boost to reform efforts…Schumer noted that Dobbs, who left CNN in November, is “changing his views on immigration.”

Schumer most likely met with “Mr. Independent” in an effort to use Dobbs’ appeal to attract more supporters from the center and center-right of politics. However, that strategy could backfire. To begin with, the majority of independents already support comprehensive immigration reform. Also, many of Dobbs’ most loyal supporters are right wingers who abandoned him as soon as he turned away from the hardline approach to immigration he advocated on CNN. And while a self-described “wiser Lou Dobbs” who favors an earned path to legalization for undocumented immigrants has emerged since he left CNN, the Latino and immigrant community is still largely skeptical about his change of heart. Many Latinos and immigrants are already disappointed by President Obama’s passing mention of immigration reform in last night’s State of the Union address.