What People Get Wrong About Birthright Citizenship

Conversations with Coleman

The Free Press

Philosophy, Society & Culture

4.5 • 610 Ratings

🗓️ 6 April 2026

⏱️ 74 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Linda Chavez has called herself the “Forrest Gump of Washington politics,” and it’'s hard to argue. She bumped into a Watergate burglar coming out of a bathroom in 1972, became the highest-ranking woman in the Reagan White House, nearly became Secretary of Labor under George W. Bush, and lost that nomination after it emerged she had sheltered an undocumented Guatemalan immigrant in her home. Today, she joins the show to respond to a recent episode with Lionel Shriver, pushing back on some of the assumptions driving the current immigration debate. She makes the case for robust legal immigration and serious border enforcement — and explains why the Trump administration is managing to get both wrong. She also discusses why assimilation is working better than the culture war suggests, why affirmative action hurts the students it claims to help, and why birthright citizenship is more legally settled than its critics want to admit. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Springs blooming at Starbucks.
0:03.0	A new season calls for new discoveries,
0:06.0	like our iced Ube-Vinilla Machilate.
0:09.0	Smooth, creamy and nutty, balanced with notes of vanilla.
0:13.0	It's a treat for the ice too,
0:15.0	with vibrant lilac hues to brighten your spring mood.
0:18.0	Hot or iced, there are so many ways to love this stunning serve.
0:23.8	Uber Vanilla, pouring now at Starbucks.
0:27.4	Subject to availability while stocks last.
0:30.5	Welcome to another episode of Conversations with Coleman.
0:33.8	My guest today is Linda Chavez.
0:37.0	Linda was the highest-ranking woman in the Reagan White House.
0:40.1	She was a Republican nominee for Senate in Maryland,
0:42.8	and she would have been Secretary of Labor under George W. Bush,
0:46.7	if not for a scandal that we discuss in this conversation.
0:51.1	Linda described herself to me as the Forrest Gump of American politics, meaning that she has played a minor role in several major events.
0:59.3	And that certainly seems to be true.
1:01.3	For instance, she was at Watergate.
1:04.0	Literally, she ran into one of the Watergate burglars while they were breaking into the DNC headquarters on June 17, 1972, and she tells the
1:12.6	full story in our conversation. Immigration was the focus of this episode. Linda heard my recent
1:18.6	episode with Lionel Shriver, and she sent me some thoughtful pushbacks on various claims that I made,
1:24.0	in particular about birthright citizenship. So I decided to just have her on and discuss
	...

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