The original intent of the 14th Amendment has been bastardized in modern times.
Original intent of the 14th AmendmentThe United States did not limit immigration in 1868 when the Fourteenth Amendment was ratified. Thus there were, by definition, no illegal immigrants and the issue of citizenship for children of those here in violation of the law was nonexistent. Granting of automatic citizenship to children of illegal alien mothers is a recent and totally inadvertent and unforeseen result of the amendment and the Reconstructionist period in which it was ratified.
In 1866, Senator Jacob Howard clearly spelled out the intent of the 14th Amendment by stating:
"Every person born within the limits of 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 in the United States who are foreigners, aliens, who belong to the families of ambassadors or foreign ministers accredited to the Government of the United States, but will include every other class of persons. It settles the great question of citizenship and removes all doubt as to what persons are or are not citizens of the United States. This has long been a great desideratum in the jurisprudence and legislation of this country." "
This understanding was reaffirmed by Senator Edward Cowan, who stated:
""[A foreigner in the United States] has a right to the protection of the laws; but he is not a citizen in the ordinary acceptance of the word..." "
The phrase "subject to the jurisdiction thereof" was intended to exclude American-born persons from automatic citizenship whose allegiance to the United States was not complete. With illegal aliens who are unlawfully in the United States, their native country has a claim of allegiance on the child. Thus, the completeness of their allegiance to the United States is impaired, which therefore precludes automatic citizenship.
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The original intent of the 14th Amendment was clearly not to facilitate illegal aliens defying U.S. law and obtaining citizenship for their offspring, nor obtaining benefits at taxpayer expense. Current estimates indicate there may be between 300,000 and 700,000 anchor babies born each year in the U.S., thus causing illegal alien mothers to add more to the U.S. population each year than immigration from all sources in an average year before 1965. (See consequences.) American citizens must be wary of elected politicians voting to illegally extend our generous social benefits to illegal aliens and other criminals.
What about a person here on a student or tourist visa? These are legal aliens who have declared their intent to NOT remain in the United States (as opposed to permanent resident aliens). If they produce a child while here, can they confer native status when they themselves have declared to only be here temporarily?
I would also assume that a person on a temporary visa who overstays their departure date would be considered an illegal alien after that date, and so would not confer citizenship, as if that person entered illegally in the first place.
Does the word "native" mean anything anymore? According to what I'm reading about naturalization, it doesn't appear to mean "indigeneous." If a student of Kenya can birth a child who is considered indigeneous to the United States, and then leave the United States behind and never return, then what does "indigeneous" mean?
-PJ