CNN commentator questions Trump children’s citizenship status: ‘Full conversation on who belongs here’

CNN political commentator Bakari Sellers asked why people aren’t investigating the Trump family’s citizenship status while discussing the White House’s ongoing deportation efforts on Tuesday.

Sellers took part in a panel on “CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip” on the topic of the Trump administration attempting to revoke the citizenship of naturalized Americans who commit crimes.

The panel referenced a recent memo from the Justice Department dated June 11 that directed U.S. attorneys to “prioritize and maximally pursue denaturalization proceedings” as part of an effort by the Trump administration to crack down on crime. 

While accusing President Donald Trump of refusing to give immigrants “the benefit of their humanity,” Sellers suggested people needed to “have a full conversation” about the Trump family’s legal status.

“Look, if we want to have a conversation about who belongs where, when, how, and whether or not their citizenship status- and we want to look at everything, I mean, I would look at Donald Trump Jr.,” Sellers said. “I would look at all of Melania‘s kids, all of Ivana‘s kids. I mean, let‘s just have a full conversation over who belongs here, how did they get here, their citizenship status.”

He added, “Let‘s just have a full discussion about all of it. Why is that not on the table right now? I mean, the only person here should be Tiffany Trump, if we‘re going to have this discussion.”

First lady Melania Trump, Barron’s mother, was born in Slovenia before becoming a U.S. citizen in 2006.

The late Ivana Trump, Trump’s first wife and Eric, Ivanka and Donald Jr.’s mother, was born in the Czech Republic before becoming a U.S. citizen in 1988.

Trump’s second wife, Tiffany’s mother, Marla Maples, was born in the U.S.

All of Trump’s children were born in the U.S. 

The Justice Department memo from Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate states that denaturalization cases against “individuals who pose a potential danger to national security, including those with a nexus to terrorism, espionage, or the unlawful export from the United States of sensitive goods, technology, or information raising national security concerns” are one of the key priorities. 

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“The benefits of civil denaturalization include the government’s ability to revoke the citizenship of individuals who engaged in the commission of war crimes, extrajudicial killings, or other serious human rights abuses; to remove naturalized criminals, gang members, or, indeed, any individuals convicted of crimes who pose an ongoing threat to the United States; and to prevent convicted terrorists from returning to U.S. soil or traveling internationally on a U.S. passport,” Shumate wrote.