'Birthright Citizenship' May be Tested in Texas Case



Posted Wednesday, October 21st 2015 @ 6am

A major test of the Constitutional guarantee of 'birthright citizenship' will occur in a federal court in Texas, as immigrant rights groups will ask a federal judge to order the State of Texas to grant Texas birth certificates to every child who is born in Texas, regardless of the citizenship status of the child's parents, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.

A federal judge on Friday allowed the state to continue denying the birth certificates, but said he was 'troubled' by the practice and the ruling will only remain until he hears arguments from both sides in a trial.

"The Constitution grants that citizenship and there is nothing that the state of Texas can do to deny citizenship to these kids," Diane Gilman, an immigration law professor at the University of Texas, told News Radio 1200 WOAI.

The state says it is taking action because, in most cases, the parents don't have the forms of identification which is needed to prove their identity. Many come in with cards known as the 'Matricula Consular,' an i.d card issues by Mexican consulates to its citizens living in the United States. Texas says the card is 'inappropriate' and could lead to fraudulent birth certificates being issued.

"What the state of Texas has been demanding is evidence of lawful status in the United States, which is not required to prove citizenship for a U.S. born child," Gilman said.

The issue of birthright citizenship has been thrust into the national debate over immigration. The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which was ratified three years after the end of the Civil War, was implemented to overturn the 1858 Dred Scott Decision, in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Black slaves were not, nor could they ever become, U.S. citizens.

"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," the Amendment states. "No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.'

While the Amendment was not meant to have anything to do with immigration, legal or illegal, it has led to the controversial topic of 'Anchor Babies,' who are born in the U.S. specifically so they will become U.S. citizens, generally in hopes that having a U.S. citizen child will make it easier for their parents and other residents to gain legal residency. Some Asian groups even offer 'birth tourism' packages, where a pregnant woman can fly to California from Asia specifically to have her baby in a U.S. hospital.

"This is part of the anti immigrant agenda that we see going on in some political circles," said Jim Harrington of the Texas Civil Rights Project, which filed the lawsuit.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of twelve illegal immigrant couples who claim that by denying them a birth certificate, the state is depriving their children of numerous rights and opportunities, from health care to education, making them 'second class citizens.'

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