Thread: Birthright of a Nation

Op-Ed Contributor

Birthright of a Nation

By PETER H. SCHUCK
Published: August 13, 2010

DESPITE persistent calls for comprehensive immigration reform, the hot debate today is about an old issue: birthright citizenship.

The citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment, adopted in 1868, provides that “all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States...â€

what most of the BLEEDING HEARTS don't get is that if they offer AMNESTY, it's not just for illegal MEXICANS, it also covers Obama's
MUSLEM groups as well. You know, midle eastern AIR PLANE PILOT STUDENTS.

What causes alarm is the family reunification policies that would be connected to any legitimization of these anchor babies.

Welcome MacMell. You see the big picture too.
Excellent!

Congress should do likewise, perhaps conditioning birthright citizenship on a certain number of years of education in American schools; such children could apply for citizenship at, say, age 10. The children would become citizens retroactively, regardless of their parents’ status.

I think that it should only cover children on a presumed birthright citizenship track now not those yet unborn. The ones born here already should be able to apply at age 18 as long as they have not commited any crimes. Age 10 is too young to help catch some of the catch juvenile delinquents who had started misbehaving as teens.

Congress did not, however, discuss the status of children of illegal immigrants — at the time, federal law didn’t limit immigration, so no parents were here illegally.

Not true, I have met people whose families were turned away due to quarantine and became citizens of other New World countries instead. Quarantine was cheaper than going back to Europe.

If the Federal government is going to give the children of illegal aliens citizenship after 10 years of being inside the country illegally, like the article suggests, than it might as well give it to them at birth. Otherwise they are in the U. S. for ten years illegally. And that makes no sense. A better solution is to deny them any birthright citizenship to begin with. That way the incentive to have children by illegal aliens is eliminated, there's no more magnet.
As for the fear raised by the article that these children might become or are stateless, that is nonsense. They are, at the very least, citizens of the country from which their illegal alien parents came from.

Originally Posted by Justthatguy

As for the fear raised by the article that these children might become or are stateless, that is nonsense. They are, at the very least, citizens of the country from which their illegal alien parents came from.

I agree that is a phony argument, plus there are already thousands of true stateless children in the USA, I don't hear any "pro-immigration" groups getting teary eyed about that. Many of these stateless children escaped from Communist countries like Vietnam, or were born in overseas refugee camps where the host country is not stupid like us, they don't give citizenship to everyone born on their soil. A lot of them have grown up and are now stateless adults.