American Citizenship Is Not A Birthright
Immigration: The 14th Amendment was written to guarantee citizenship for freed slaves. It’s been misinterpreted to give citizenship to children of illegal aliens. Now some GOP leaders want to restore its original meaning.
In Texas this year, some 60,000 so-called “anchor babies” will be born to the 1.5 million illegal aliens estimated to reside there. They’re called that because under the current interpretation of the 14th Amendment they’re automatic citizens, encouraging more illegals to arrive and making it hard to deport those already here.
Editor’s NOTE: Given the fact that governments LIE by two-thirds, which means that “1-5 million illegal aliens” actually translates into 3-15 million illegal INVADERS. (Ed.)
“There is a problem,” House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, told NBC’s “Meet The Press” Sunday. “To provide an incentive for illegal immigrants to come here so that their children can be U.S. citizens does, in fact, draw more people to our country. I do think that it’s time for us to secure our borders and enforce the law and allow this conversation about the 14th Amendment to continue.”
“The 14th Amendment (has been) interpreted to provide that if you are born in the United States, you are a citizen no matter what,” Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., said a week earlier on the CBS show “Face The Nation.” “So the question is, if both parents are here illegally, should there be a reward for their illegal behavior?” Kyl is open to a hearing on the matter of birthright citizenship. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell says Congress should consider the guarantee of birthright citizenship provided by the 14th Amendment.
A new IBD/TIPP Poll shows solid opposition to changing the Constitution to address the anchor baby issue (see chart). But does the amendment need amending or has it just been wrongly interpreted by those supporting illegal immigration?
The 14th Amendment reads: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside” (italics added). Illegal aliens are still foreign nationals and are not subject to U.S. jurisdiction, except for purposes of deportation, and therefore their children born on American soil should not automatically be considered U.S. citizens.
The purpose of the 14th Amendment was essentially to forever repeal the Dred Scott decision, grant full citizenship to all blacks and elevate citizenship from a state to a national determination. It was not to protect illegal aliens coming across the border.
During debate on the 14th Amendment, Jacob Merritt Howard, a senator from Michigan who helped draft the amendment after the Civil War, stated quite clearly:
“This will not, of course, include persons in the United States who are foreigners, aliens, who belong to families of ambassadors or foreign ministers accredited to the government of the United States, but will include every other class of persons.”
Rep. John Bingham of Ohio, regarded as the father of the 14th Amendment, said it meant “every human being born within the jurisdiction of the United States of parents not owing allegiance to any foreign sovereignty is, in the language of your constitution itself a natural-born citizen.”
We’re reminded of the case of Elvira Arellano, an illegal alien who in 2007 fought deportation on the grounds her then- 8-year-old son, Saul, was an American citizen, a beneficiary of the flawed concept of birthright citizenship.
In a recent interview with Tucson’s local ABC affiliate, KGUN9-TV, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer was asked how to solve the problem of mixed-status families. Brewer, not pandering or tap-dancing like most politicians would, answered, “They can take their children back with them.”
That sounds harsh, but if you break the nation’s immigration laws, being pregnant should not be an extenuating circumstance. The original intent of Congress (which is what should matter in the courts) is clear: Just being born in the U.S.A. is not enough.
So what do we do with the kids already here? Their citizenship could be grandfathered in under a new law.
As we’ve said before, becoming a U.S. citizen should require more than your mother successfully sneaking past the U.S. Border Patrol.
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Hippy,
You understand it incorrectly. The issue was first addressed by the Supreme Court in the case of Wong Kim Ark in 1898. And I quote:
“That any U.S. citizens of Chinese descent even existed was due to the Supreme Court’s landmark 1898 Wong Kim Ark decision, which affirmed that the birthright citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment applied even to the U.S.-born children of Chinese and other foreign nationals who were legally barred from naturalizing.”
That is correct. Even if someone on a terrorist watch list and his terrorist girlfriend who are legally barred from enetering the United States do enter it, any children the have here are automatically U.S. Citizens. And that is exactly the way it should be.
Wong Kim Ark has been upheld a number of times. The court has found over and over again that it is un-Constitutional to deny U.S. Citizenship to a child born here no matter what the history of that child’s parents, or how they got, or whether they are supposed to be here at all.
Don’t read Ann Coulter, she suffers from some mental disease…I’m going with syphilis.
This is really about a group of racists whipping up anti-immigrant fervor. They simply hate people with brown or black skin. They wish for a Third Reich of Amerika.
David, as I understand it. This whole Anchor Baby Myth was promulgated by one lousy footnote on one of Justice Brennan’s opinions; based on a book written by some obscure author. Am I right, or am I wrong? hb
Too bad for you and everyone else quoting Jacob Merritt Howard that you do not know what you are talking about. He is referring to the class of people with diplomatic immunity who were by convention not subject to U.S. jurisdiction. This had been precedent under English Common Law and had been affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court.
He is saying nothing about foreigners in general.
Perhaps you folks should learn to read, buy a history book, and learn about this country’s history before you post nonsense. This has been written about extensively and has been treated in recent books.
It really all comes down to religious nuts, intellectually crippled evangelicals who read the likes of frauds such as David Barton and their slimy ilk. And of course Ann Coulter who is missing several genes anyway.
Those who had their papers in order and who were given permission to come to this country and take all the steps to become citizens were IMMIGRANTS. This bunch are nothing but house breakers, and should be shot when they break through our doors.
My grandfather and grandmother came here legally and my grandfather finished all his tests and become a citizen, but my grandmother had not when she gave birth to my dad. My grandmother, my aunt (the eldest child) and my dad went back to Norway and waited SEVEN more years to get permission to try once again for citizenship.
Now if you can break into this nation and have me pay for your medical bill so you can birth a child which you say is your “anchor baby” and your sponsor who gives you automatic citizenship so that you can speak your pig Latin (NOT SPANISH), live like the hell hole you made and came out of, wipe your rear on our people and our Constitution and our flag and then have the audacity to tell me that you are an American, you are out of your mind.
NO, you are a liar, a cheat and a thief, and we and our friends of Mexican heritage, who are truly AmeriCANs, want no part of you or your conduct
If, within 5 years of their birth, their parents became legal, then they will be accorded status. If not, they get nothing !