It’s Time to Revisit the 14th Amendment

By Fred Elbel
Volume 17, Number 3 (Spring 2007)

Summary:
Why an incorrect interpretation of the 14th Amendment compounds our nation's immigration crisis.

Any baby born in the United States is currently granted automatic citizenship, no matter whether their family line delineates 100 years of citizenship or instead reflects illegal entry into the country 10 days ago. It is presumed that birthright citizenship is a right enumerated in the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. This premise is based upon an incorrect interpretation of the Amendment and unfortunately has resulted in even more strengthening of the magnet that draws huge numbers of illegal aliens into the U.S. It is believed by a few that a Constitutional Amendment would be required to rectify this gross misinterpretation, but in fact, the 14th Amendment grants Congress the full authority to enforce the Amendment simply by enacting long overdue legislation.
Original Intent

The 14th Amendment was passed by the Reconstruction Congress in 1868, after the end of the Civil War. Section One, the Citizenship Clause, states that:

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 primary purpose of the 14th Amendment was to guarantee inalienable rights and citizenship to native-born Black Americans, while ensuring that individual states could not deny citizenship.

The phrase “subject to the jurisdiction thereofâ€