Thread: The HouseJudiciary Committee hearing, 02/05/2013 - 10:15 a.m. EST

This is my first visit to this site. I've been upset about immigration problems for a very long time. Especially since I moved from Pennsylvania to South Florida 12 years ago.

I hope it's okay to share this link to watch what happens on this hearing. If anyone is here and wants to watch live here is the link to C-SPAN Live Video - C-SPAN3 | C-SPAN

If anyone wants to see what is being said on Twitter, they are using hashtag #HJC113 Even if you don't have twitter, you can follow commentary just by looking at this link and refreshing the page: https://twitter.com/search?q=%23HJC113&src=hash

Welcome Bboli and thank you for the heads up about this being on. Just tuned in.

Thinking of starting a petition on https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petitions regarding ending Birthright Citizenship. If it would gain enough signatures, it would have to be addressed. It takes 150 signatures on whitehouse.gov for it to show up on their petition website. Need talking points.

Welcome Bboli! Thank you for posting. We are happy to have you here

Welcome Bboli and thanks for the link.

Like the petition idea, will try to post more info later tonight.

In general, when trying to understand a text, the first thing to do is to analyze the text itself.

The text of the 14th Amendment reads, "Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States..." (e.a.) The critical phrase is "subject to the jurisdiction thereof." People who are merely born in the United States are not subject to our jurisdiction, they are subject to the jurisdiction of country from which their parents come.

The second place to look when analyzing a text is to read what its authors and others had to say about it. I'll try to locate my notes on this, but in general the authors of the 14th Amendment were clear about its not applying to foreigners.

Illegals have been getting away with dropping anchor babies because politicians have not been protecting American interests.

An easy way to understand how jurisdiction works is to think about the situation of foreigners who are caught breaking our laws. Let's say that they are caught shoplifting. OK, we can arrest them and bring them to trial. If they're convicted, we can send them to jail and then deport them. But arresting and trying them and sending them to jail does not transform them into citizens. They remain foreigners who have been jailed for breaking our laws. End of story.

Politicians, many of whom are attorneys, already know all this. But it's convenient for them to sell out Americans. These politicians are disgusting, and they only respond to pressure, not to principle.

One could also look at what other are doing or have done. Again I'll have to look thru some notes - or perhaps another poster will have the info - but in general countries are and/or have eliminated birthright citizenship.
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Americans first in this magnificent country

American jobs for American workers

Fair trade, not free trade

Thank you Vistalad. Maybe we can all put our heads together and come up with a petition supporting a change to birthright citizenship and get it on Whitehouse petition site very soon.

The illegals start up petitions on the Whitehouse petition site and they garner a lot of co-signers, so we'd have to really push to spread the word on a petition supporting the end of jus-soli.

Steve King introduced (once again) H.R. 140 - Birthright Citizenship Act of 2013 with 19 co-signers.H.R.140 - Birthright Citizenship Act of 2013 - Committees | Congress.gov | Library of Congress