Thread: IN- ACLU Suit: Paternity policy punishes immigrants' kids

Suit: Paternity policy punishes immigrants' kids

Marion County (Indiana) By CHARLES WILSON

Associated Press Writer

6:47 p.m. CDT, October 19, 2010

INDIANAPOLIS — Two sets of immigrant parents whose children were born in Indianapolis sued health officials Tuesday over a policy they say makes the children legally illegitimate and denies them their family rights to such things as insurance.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana filed the lawsuit against the Health and Hospital Corporation of Marion County on behalf of the families. The parents say the policy violates their 14th Amendment rights, which say any child born in the United States is a U.S. citizen.

At issue is the enforcement of a state law that allows a child's paternity to be established through an affidavit containing both parents' Social Security numbers. Although the law was enacted in 1997, the lawsuit claims health officials "only recently" began interpreting it to mean that people who didn't have or couldn't get Social Security numbers couldn't file the affidavits.

John Althardt, a spokesman for the county health agencies, declined comment Tuesday.

ACLU attorney Ken Falk said that without the affidavits, the children are legally illegitimate.

"They have no legal father," Falk said. "Everything we do when we have kids and we fill something out saying 'I'm the father,' that doesn't apply anymore."

He said that means the children cannot be covered by their father's insurance, inheritance or other familial benefits.

Falk declined to describe the parents' exact Immigration status, but said there were several circumstances under which immigrants are not eligible for Social Security. However, he said, children born in the United States are U.S. citizens under the 14th Amendment.

The lawsuit argues that denying U.S. citizens legitimacy due to their parentage violates that amendment.

The ACLU filed the lawsuit the same day that state Rep. Eric Koch, R-Bedford, announced he was joining a drive to develop model state legislation to prevent the 14th Amendment from being used to secure citizenship for the children of illegal immigrants.

"The misapplication of the 14th Amendment devalues citizenship and incentivizes illegal aliens to violate our border and our laws," Koch said in a news release. "Because of the Federal government's failure to act, state legislators must join together to end this abuse of our economy and our Constitution."

Koch said the lawsuit "is evidence of the significance of this issue."

One of the children has older siblings for whom the father was allowed to file a paternity petition despite his lack of a Social Security number, according to the lawsuit.

Neither set of parents can afford to file a paternity petition in court, which the suit says is the only other way the children could be legitimized.

Both sets of parents have married since the children were born earlier this year, the suit says.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi- ... 6687.story

Perhaps the first step towards reaching the SCOTUS!