Thread: 8 reasons to leave 14th Amendment alone NAVARRETTE

8 reasons to leave 14th Amendment alone

By Ruben Navarrette Jr., CNN
ContributorJanuary 6, 2011 9:49 a.m. EST

Editor's note: Ruben Navarrette Jr. is a nationally syndicated columnist, an NPR commentator and a regular contributor to CNN.com

San Diego (CNN) -- There is nothing sadder than watching a political party turn itself inside out and violate its principles.

A coalition of Republican state legislators are doing just that by attempting to change the citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment -- or at least how it is interpreted -- to deny citizenship to the U.S. children of illegal immigrants.

At issue, this smidgen of "subversive" language:

"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."

-- 14th Amendment, Section 1

That is pretty cut and dried, unless you have an interest in clouding the issue for the sake of politics.

Which brings us to State Legislators for Legal Immigration. Representing members from 40 states, this outfit is taking aim at what it calls "anchor babies." This week, some of the leaders revealed their strategy at a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington.

They propose two things: legislation to create a new definition of state citizenship, apart from U.S. citizenship, that excludes the U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants, and an agreement between the states to issue different birth certificates to babies whose parents cannot prove legal status.

This entire crusade is an immoral, illogical and ill-conceived maneuver that will further divide the American people and ultimately destroy the Republican Party.

And here are eight reasons why:

• 1. There's a reason why the majority of Republicans in Congress wisely steered clear of this issue in 1999 and again in 2005 when it was proposed by Reps. Brian Bilbray, R-California, and Nathan Deal, R-Georgia, respectively. (Deal will soon become Georgia's governor.) In this country, we don't visit the sins of the parent onto the child. And it's unseemly for the GOP to be seen as attacking children whose only "sin" is having the temerity to be born on U.S. soil.

• 2. What part of "legal" and "U.S. citizen" don't these activists understand? Some restrictionists and racists like to claim that they have no problem with legal immigrants, that their beef is solely with those who enter the country illegally or overstay a visa unlawfully. Is that so? This movement puts the lie to that claim by targeting a group of people who have every "legal" right to be here.

And normally, people like this oppose comprehensive reform because it would offer an earned pathway to citizenship. They say that this commodity is much too valuable to be bartered with. If they really believe that, then they should keep their mitts off it and show this group of U.S. citizens the proper respect.

• 3. What happened to those who usually preach the virtues of adhering to a strict interpretation of the Constitution? Apparently, that kind of "strictness" doesn't apply in this case. Ironically, many of these same people want to make English the country's official language. But shouldn't they first acquaint themselves with the English language?

• 4. One argument for this kind of legislative mischief is that it is completely permissible under "states' rights." Seriously? These folks not only skipped high school civics. They also slept though U.S. history. A state doesn't have the right to pass a law that denies residents a right protected by the U.S. Constitution. See Mississippi, circa 1960s.

• 5. There is no such thing as anchor babies. Just ask Elvira Arellano, who now resides in Mexico because she was deported in August 2007 despite having an 8-year-old son who was born in the United States. There are, however, anchor jobs gladly provided by U.S. employers, including homeowners eager to get others to do their chores. It's jobs that keep illegal immigrants "anchored" here. Stop hiring, and you'll send them on their way.

• 6. The Republican Party is planting the seeds of its own demise with this stunt. Polls show that the majority of Latinos are not in support of an open border, and they'll go along with border enforcement. But they are opposed to what they consider the radical and mean-spirited idea of stripping citizenship away from children. With an estimated 60 million Latinos in the country, the GOP should pick a different fight.

• 7. I have long suspected that the secret agenda is to spare Republicans the electoral spanking they richly deserve. It may be that the concern here isn't U.S. citizenship per se, but something that comes with it: the right to vote. Republicans know that once these U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants come of age, they're likely to remember how Mommy and Daddy were treated and pay it back, voting against every Republican on the ballot -- unless they don't have the right to vote. And if this is true, what happened to that time-honored GOP rhetoric about people taking responsibility for their actions? There isn't much of that here if Republicans are indeed scheming to dodge accountability and avoid paying a political price for bashing immigrants.

• 8. It is often said that the United States is one of the few developed nations in the world that affords citizenship rights to anyone born on its soil. That is something we should feel proud of. It's one of the reasons the United States remains an exceptional nation, one of the most productive countries, the one remaining superpower, and an inspiration around the globe.

The U.S. immigration system isn't perfect, but this country handles immigration better than any other on Earth.

Let's keep it that way. Let's keep ignorance and prejudice at bay. And keep the 14th Amendment just the way it is.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Ruben Navarrette Jr.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/01/06/n ... index.html

It appears Ruben has been smoking crack again

Originally Posted by Justthefacts

It appears Ruben has been smoking crack again

He's making a good living shilling for the Open Borders, Come And Get It crowd. His columns consistently mix fact with fiction. No one can do that consistently by accident. The problem, tho, is that newpapers so often run his articles that people can end up believing his nonsense.

He does not have the CENTS to smoke Krack!

He needs to read the MEXICAN CONSTITUTION AGAIN!

Chapter II
Mexicans
Article 30. Mexican nationality is acquired by birth or by naturalization:
A. Mexicans by birth are:
I. Those born in the territory of the Republic, regardless of the nationality of their parents:
II. Those born in a foreign country of Mexican parents; of a Mexican father and a foreign mother; or of a Mexican mother and an unknown father;
III. Those born on Mexican vessels or airships, either war or merchant vessels.
B. Mexicans by naturalization are:
I. Foreigners who obtain letters of naturalization from the Secretariat of Foreign Relations;
II. A foreign woman who marries a Mexican man and has or establishes her domicile within the national territory.

Originally Posted by vistalad

Originally Posted by Justthefacts

It appears Ruben has been smoking crack again :evil:

He's making a good living shilling for the Open Borders, Come And Get It crowd. His columns consistently mix fact with fiction. No one can do that consistently by accident. The problem, tho, is that newpapers so often run his articles that people can end up believing his nonsense.

The San Diego Union Tribune recently dumped him.

Originally Posted by JohnDoe2

Originally Posted by vistalad

Originally Posted by Justthefacts

It appears Ruben has been smoking crack again

He's making a good living shilling for the Open Borders, Come And Get It crowd. His columns consistently mix fact with fiction. No one can do that consistently by accident. The problem, tho, is that newpapers so often run his articles that people can end up believing his nonsense.

The San Diego Union Tribune recently dumped him.

Really?! That is terrific news! About damn time and CNN and NPR should dump him too. Why would anyone think that illegal aliens or their offspring are "subject to the jurisdiction" of the United States?! Not one court and not one law has ever given any employee of the US government or state governments the authority to grant citizenship to children of illegal aliens, whether they're born here or not and the Constitution is crystal clear on to whom the 14th Amendment applies and it is not to children born here to parents in our country illegally! It's the greatest absurdity in the history of our country.

Originally Posted by JohnDoe2

The San Diego Union Tribune recently dumped him.

Yes, but the San Francisco Chronicle has been featuring him on its OpEd page regularly, despite that paper's stated policy that contributors are rarely published more than every six months. And it has an effect. Because that paper doesn't publish any OpEd articles from a pro-American point of view, people whom I talk to believe, for example, that illegals really are doing jobs that Americans won't do. They're shocked to learn that I and my buds did all of them - except for field work, of course; not much of that in the inner city
************************************************** ****************************
Americans first in this magnificent country

American jobs for American workers

Fair trade, not free trade

They really mean about 650,000 reasons to leave it alone.

QUOTE.....In this country, we don't visit the sins of the parent onto the child.


If your a white person and your kid tags a building YOU ARE responsible for the costs to paint the building. Ruben was referring to his home Messico where no one is responsible for anything.

QUOTE.....In this country, we don't visit the sins of the parent onto the child.

No the difference is that the American culture is that we try to take into consideration our children before they are even conceived. Most Americans are taught that children should be planned for, that they are a responsibility to the parents not to be taken lightly.

American parents are held to a higher degree of responsibility for the welfare and safety of their children. Hence Americas laws on Child Endangerment and Child Neglect.

One has to wonder why these same laws are not applied to Illegal Aliens. Just by being illegal in this country these parents are breaking our Child Endangerment laws.

Look at the living conditions of many of these families. The code violations. The filth and unsanitary conditions that many live in. American families would have their children taken away from them.

How many articles do we have to read about young girls being abducted by family friends? Why aren't the parents being held accountable for endangering their children.

No Naarrette, you would do better to preach to your community about the sins of the parents being placed on the children. This culture is what we Americans are fighting that does not belong in our country.