JUST IN: Trump Vindicated On Birthright Citizenship After Would-Be Terrorists Exposed As Anchor Babies

Federal agents arrested two Chinese nationals who slipped into the U.S. illegally in the 1990s and stayed for decades after their asylum claims were rejected, the Department of Homeland Security said, after prosecutors charged their U.S.-born children in an alleged explosive-device plot at MacDill Air Force Base.

The parents, Qiu Qin Zou and Jia Zhang Zheng, entered the country illegally about three decades ago, were denied asylum and were ordered removed, according to DHS information first reported by The Daily Wire. Despite that, the couple remained in the United States for years and had two children while living here unlawfully: Ann Mary Zheng and Alen Zheng.

The development landed in the middle of a national fight over birthright citizenship as the Supreme Court weighs President Donald Trump’s executive order aimed at ending automatic citizenship for children born in the U.S. to illegal immigrants and some temporary visitors.

Last week, the Justice Department charged 27-year-old Ann Zheng in connection with the alleged attempt to detonate an improvised explosive device at the MacDill Air Force Base Visitor’s Center in Tampa. Authorities believe her brother, Alen Zheng, is in China, and Ann Zheng was arrested when she returned to the United States from overseas, according to the report.

DHS said it arrested the parents on March 18 for illegal entry and that they remain in ICE custody.

Officials said the couple applied for asylum in 1993, but an immigration judge denied the requests and ordered their removal in 1998. DHS said the Board of Immigration Appeals repeatedly rejected attempts to reopen the case. Even so, the couple remained in the country for decades.

The arrests and charges are being cited by the administration as an example of why it says the current interpretation of birthright citizenship is too broad.

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“Automatically granting citizenship to children of illegal aliens born in the U.S. is based on a historically inaccurate interpretation of the Citizenship Clause and poses a major national security risk,” argued Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis.

“That reality became apparent last week when two U.S.-born children of Chinese illegal aliens were indicted for planting a potentially deadly explosive device outside MacDill Air Force Base in Florida,” Bis explained. “This incident underscores the severe national security threat that illegal immigration and birthright citizenship pose to the United States.”

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In a separate release, DOJ said Ann Zheng and her brother “attempted to damage government property by fire or explosion” and alleged Ann Zheng helped her brother “in order to hinder and prevent his apprehension, trial, and punishment.”

Ann Zheng is also charged with “corruptly altering, destroying, mutilating, and concealing a 2010 black Mercedes-Benz GLK 350 with the intent to impair its integrity and availability for use in the federal prosecution of Alen Zheng,” according to DOJ.

MacDill is a major U.S. military hub and houses U.S. Central Command, the headquarters overseeing U.S. operations in the Middle East, making any alleged plot tied to the base instantly high stakes. The case now adds fresh political fuel to the fight over Trump’s birthright citizenship push, as the administration argues the issue is no longer academic, but a matter of security.

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