Thread: Birth citizens: Avoid this detour in the immigration debate

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib ... 8top1.html

Birth citizens

Avoid this detour in the immigration debate

December 28, 2005

It's understandable that many immigration restrictionists prefer to believe that one of the main reasons that people come to the United States without documents is to have "anchor babies" – little native-born citizens who then tether the illegal immigrant parents to this country and provide for public benefits.

Consider the alternatives. We could be honest with ourselves about the fact that the only "anchors" for illegal immigrants are what are commonly referred to as jobs, or the fact that there wouldn't be jobs for illegal immigrants if so many Americans weren't so eager to provide them. And we could admit that illegal immigrants don't really come here for freebies or handouts, and that – quite the contrary – they have a work ethic that puts to shame that of many native-born citizens.

What fun would that be? That requires that Americans accept their share of responsibility for the fact that we have a problem with illegal immigration in the first place, rather than simply chalk it up to the greed and deviousness of those who immigrate here.

It's easier to talk about denying citizenship to babies born to illegal immigrants on U.S. soil, as some in Congress now propose doing.

Thankfully, it's only "some" and not "most." The immigration reform bill passed by the House of Representatives a couple of weeks ago did not include language eliminating birthright citizenship. That's because GOP House leaders didn't allow the provision to come to a vote, perhaps sensing that the issue was radioactive enough to torpedo the entire bill.

Good guess. First, there are sticky constitutional issues that must be addressed, given that we in this country have been recognizing "birthright citizenship" since Johnson was president. That's Andrew Johnson, mind you. Ratified in 1868, the 14th Amendment is clear about this much: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States."

You'll notice there's no footnote saying the provision doesn't apply to the children of people who come here illegally. Supporters of the ban say that those who wrote the 14th Amendment – which was drafted with an eye to giving rights to freed slaves – never imagined that it might be used to grant automatic citizenship to the children of illegal immigrants.

But that's a rather strange argument given that this is, after all, the 14th Amendment we're talking about. Its "equal protection clause" has been used to protect the rights of all sorts of people in ways never imagined by those who wrote the amendment.

Besides, supporters of the ban undercut their own position by trying to have it both ways. On one hand, they insist that automatic citizenship is a powerful magnet that lures illegal immigrants here. That implies that these immigrants put tremendous value on citizenship. But then many of those same people turn around and insist that many immigrants – once they arrive here – aren't assimilating, acting like Americans and becoming citizens. That implies that the newcomers see no value in U.S. citizenship.

Which is it? Here's a hint for those pushing the citizenship ban: The answer is not "whichever helps us get our way."

"All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States."

Neither foreign nationals nor their offpsring are "subject to the jurisdiction thereof". Only American Citizens are subject to the Jurisdiction of the United States. Foreign nationals and their offspring are subject to the jurisdiction of the the nation in which they hold citizenship, whether they are physically in the United States or another country.

Anchor Babies of Foreign Nationals, citizens of other countries, were never US Citizens under the 14th Amendment. They were made citizens by government officials selling out our nation and our citizenship.

Did anyone really care until recently? Probably not. Well, now we do. That's our right as Citizens who control this nation and we can change this policy, this procedure, this erroneous dumb ass "interpretation" whenever we please or find it necessary to do so.

That time is now.

Pass the Anchor Babies Law immediately and stop this insanity of citizenizing children of parents who are citizens of other nations.