Free Republic

Advocates of birthright citizenship are finally getting their act together, moving away from commentators who are manifestly clueless on the legal arguments for and against the proposition that the Fourteenth Amendment guarantees citizenship to every child born in America, shifting their focus to lawyers and scholars who have seriously studied this issue and can give a serious defense of birthright citizenship—a serious defense that, nonetheless, is wrong.

How can a serious presidential candidate and a major cable television host be so repeatedly ignorant of such a significant moment in American history? I don’t know. But I do know that both Jeb Bush and Bill O’Reilly are either attacking Donald Trump (Bush) or challenging him on air (O’Reilly) seemingly clueless of a seminal moment in American immigration history. As discussed in this space last week, that moment in history began on June 17, 1954, when, at the personal direction of President Dwight D. Eisenhower – the fabled American hero of the D-Day invasion – illegal immigrants in America...

The Mexican government is warning that Texas’ denial of birth certificates for U.S. children born here to undocumented immigrants stands to imperil the relationship between Mexico and the Lone Star State. The concern was raised in an amicus brief filed Monday evening to lend support to immigrants parents who sued Texas after being denied birth certificates for their U.S.-born children, even after showing their “matrículas,” the ID cards issued by the Mexican consulate to undocumented immigrants.

Since Donald Trump unveiled his multi-step proposal on illegal immigration, establishment Republicans like Jeb Bush have hammered the package as too expensive and out of sync with conservative ideals. Various price tags have been attached to Trump’s proposals, some of them as high as $300 billion. That’s a tough pill to swallow for anyone who wants to see the federal government shrink, but the numbers tell a different story altogether. “A modest increase in enforcement (such as E-verify or visa tracking) would cause significant attrition in the illegal population, sending millions of illegals home on their own at no cost...

Photo Credit: City of Eden Prairie Khadra Hirsi, Photo Credit: City of Eden Prairie Since the Minnesota Department of Health and Human Services (DHS) fully-staffed their new child care fraud investigative unit in the spring of 2014, they’ve worked with the FBI to shutter daycare centers around the state. Of the cases that have hit the news since then, all have involved Somali-run businesses. Khadra Abdisafad Hirsi, 47, was the director and co-owner of Ace Daycare Center in Eden Prairie. In February, Hirsi pleaded guilty to knowingly submitting fraudulent claims to the state of Minnesota’s Child Care Assistance Program. From...

There is no greater political miscalculation, or fraud, than the notion that Republicans have to “moderate” their positions on immigration reform in order to appeal to Hispanic voters. This fiction began with President George W. Bush’s aborted attempt at comprehensive immigration reform in early 2007.

In a case regarding a specific gun control law which bans “unauthorized aliens” (illegal immigrants) from possessing firearms in the United States, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit did the work of a contortionist by upholding the law while also pointing out that they “see no principled way to carve out the Second Amendment and say that the unauthorized (or maybe all noncitizens) are excluded.” In a word—illegal immigrants have Second Amendment rights too. The case was titled United States v. Meza-Rodriguez, and the decision was handed down on August 20.

In yet another depiction of the nation’s flawed immigration policies, the Obama administration is extending a humanitarian measure designed to temporarily shield illegal immigrants from deportation during emergencies for the fifth time in five years. It’s officially known as Temporary Protected Status (TPS) but should be renamed permanent—or at least long-term—protected status. It involves tens of thousands of Haitians, who were originally granted TPS after an earthquake devastated the poverty-stricken Caribbean island in 2010. Then Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said the benefit would last only 18 months and be limited to Haitian nationals who were in the United States...

Angela Merkel has vowed “no tolerance” for violent anti-migrant protests that have gripped Germany in recent weeks. The German chancellor called on her countrymen to make a stand against the “shameful and disgusting” protests on Wednesday, as she visited a migrant shelter that has been the scene of some of the worst violence. “There is no tolerance for those people who question the dignity of others, there is no tolerance for those who are not willing to help where legal and human help is required,” Mrs Merkel said. “The more people who make this clear, the stronger we shall be.”...

The chattering class insists that the 14th amendment automatically grants citizenship to children of illegal aliens. They do this by relying on the public's ignorance of the 14th amendment and the obscurity of the meaning of "under the jurisdiction thereof. The author of the 14th amendment was very clear when he proposed it, however: "This amendment, which I have offered is simply declaratory ... that every person born within the United States, and subject to their jurisdiction is by virtue of natural law and national law a citizen of the United States. This will not of course include persons born...

Mark Levin always cuts right to the heart of the matter. Lindsey “the weasel” Graham LOL… “we have to bust through the establishment”… -- SNIP-- America's immigration system isn't the problem. Mexico's immigration system is the problem. - Mark Levin

To support his insane interpretation of the post-Civil War amendments as granting citizenship to the kids of illegal aliens, Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly is now taking job applications for the nonexistent — but dearly hoped-for — Jeb! administration, live, during his show.(Apparently my debate with O’Reilly will be conducted in my column, Twitter feed and current bestselling book, Adios, America, against the highest-rated show on cable news.)Republicans have been out of the White House for seven long years, and GOP lawyers are getting impatient. So now they’re popping up on Fox News’ airwaves, competing to see who can denounce Donald...

Republican Presidential Candidate and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush told a group at a Florida rally about his Texas border trip and explained why a border wall wouldn’t be practical or conservative. Bush returned to the friendly turf of the Sunshine State on Wednesday, with a town hall style meeting in Pensacola. Pensacola is a solidly conservative town in the Florida panhandle. He spoke of his experience as the state’s former governor, but only answered a single question about the Border Crisis. “I went to McAllen, Texas, in Hildago County, last week and met with the Mayors, the County Judge,...

Now this… Ramos made the TIME Magazine 100 most influential list. The Mexican-American is a committed open borders leftist. His daughter works for the Hillary Clinton campaign. Jorge Ramos also confessed that he still votes in both Mexico and America. I’ve never ceased to be Mexican. I have two passports, and I vote in elections in both countries. I’m deeply proud of this privileged duality. The best thing about America is its embrace of diversity. The worst thing about America, of course, is the racist and xenophobic attitudes that tend to emerge now and then — Arizona’s anti-immigrant laws, for...

Last night on Donald Trump's least favorite Fox News program, The Kelly File, GOP contender Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) also went after the suddenly controversial interviewer, complaining that a question she kept pressing him on—whether he'd deport the U.S.-citizen children of illegal immigrants, as Donald Trump would—is "the question every mainstream media liberal journalist wants to ask." Sick burn! Anyway, the question—which Cruz, to his discredit, refused to answer—is an important one for those many 2016 GOP candidates (Trump, Cruz, Scott Walker, Rand Paul, Rick Santorum, Lindsey Graham, Bobby Jindal, etc.) who have come out against the birthright citizenship established...

In a case regarding a specific gun control law which bans “unauthorized aliens” (illegal immigrants) from possessing firearms in the United States, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit did the work of a contortionist by upholding the law while also pointing out that they “see no principled way to carve out the Second Amendment and say that the unauthorized (or maybe all noncitizens) are excluded.” In a word—illegal immigrants have Second Amendment rights too. The case was titled United States v. Meza-Rodriguez, and the decision was handed down on August 20. (snip) As for the background to...

Jeb Bush is getting some heat for a comment he made in South Texas where he said his use of the term “anchor babies” didn’t involve Central Americans, but Asians. He’s actually right (and this is one of the few times I’ll write this). Here’s his comment: As I said in Spanish. My background, my life, the fact that I’m immersed in the immigrant experience. This is…this is ludicrous for the Clinton campaign and others to suggest that somehow, somehow, I’m using a derogatory term. What I was talking about was the specific case of fraud being committed where...

California voters’ support for extending health care coverage to people in the state illegally is gaining ground, according to the latest Field Poll. The survey found that 58 percent of registered voters favor providing Medi-Cal to all of the state’s undocumented residents while 39 percent oppose. Last year, only a slight majority – 51 percent – favored the idea, while 45 percent opposed.

Birthright citizenship isn’t just an American political and legal issue. Here is a quick look at how other nations deal with the question of citizenship for people born within their borders to non-citizen parents. In the United States, the current debate is over the Constitution’s 14th Amendment, and whether its Citizenship Clause extends to the children of undocumented immigrants. The 14th Amendment’s Citizenship Clause reads, “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.” Since the Supreme Court’s 1898 decision in...

PHOENIX, Arizona — Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio—known here simply as “Sheriff Joe”—loves 2016 GOP frontrunner Donald Trump and wants to accompany him on a trip to Mexico that would, in his estimation, either lead to a show of U.S. force in getting that country to come to the table on immigration and trade or expose that Mexico is uninterested in solving such problems. “I want to go to Mexico,” Arpaio told Breitbart News in a wide-ranging, nearly two-hour long interview in his office at the Maricopa County justice complex in downtown Phoenix. “I’ve gotten resistance from the Mexican government,...