Unfortunately, that is not the state of the law today. The 14th Amendment provides "all persons born or naturalized in the U.S., and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the U.S." "Subject to the jurisdiction thereof" has been interpreted to exclude children of ambassadors (who have diplomatic immunity, and thus are not subject to U.S. laws) from U.S. citizenship, but not children of non-citizens or even children of illegal aliens. While I would like to see Congress use Section 5 of the 14th Amendment to legislate that automatic citizenship for persons born in the U.S. will only be afforded to those for whom at least one parent is a U.S. citizen or permanent resident, and then fight it out in court, the current state of the law is that anyone born in the U.S., even if their parents are tourists or illegal aliens, are U.S. citizens." Dittos on this. Any illegal alien is not under the jurisdiction of the US in any sense and thus there is no 14t h Amendment requirement to make them citizens. The exceptions that are already given to diplomats need to be given to illegal aliens. No automatic citizenship under such cases. This would end a huge amount of the abuses in the immigration system.
" This perversion of American citizenship, commonly called ?birthright citizenship,? is the result of the federal government and judiciary?s willful misinterpretation of the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.[i] In truth, the Citizenship Clause confers nothing so broad. The plain language of the 14th Amendment does not grant automatic birthright citizenship. A review of the Senate debate before the 14th Amendment?s ratification makes clear that the Citizenship Clause?s proponents were careful to preclude any automatic grant of citizenship based only on birth within the territory of the United States. Some legal theorists, along with those who favor unrestricted immigration, argue that only another amendment to the Constitution would be constitutionally adequate to end automatic birthright citizenship. That is wrong. All we need do is read (and enforce) the Citizenship Clause as written. Legislation to enforce the limits inherent in the Citizenship Clause is well within the Congress? constitutional power. As the 14th Amendment itself explicitly states: ?The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.?[ii]"
Congress has the power to enforce the 14th amendment and has the power under Article III section 2 to enforce appellate jurisdiction. It thus can define the limitation granted by 'subject to the jurisdiction' to mean simply those who are legal residents and exclude illegal aliens. There is such a bill, btw:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/D?d107:190:./list/bss/d107HR.lst::|TOM:/bss/d107query.html
Okay to those talking about the border-crossing-giving birth to anchor babies scam, here is the bill to stop it:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/D?d107:190:./list/bss/d107HR.lst::|TOM:/bss/d107query.html http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?r107:2:./temp/~r1078Xxhk3:: The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states, ``all persons born in the United States, and subject to the
jurisdiction thereof, are citizens.'' The federal government interprets this to grant automatic citizenship to the
children of illegal aliens born in the United States. I believe this is a gross misinterpretation and that there is no
constitutional requirement to confer citizenship to the U.S.-born children of illegal aliens. Illegal aliens cannot be
subject to the jurisdiction of the United States because they are in the United States without legal authority.
Mr. Speaker, few can dispute that the practice of granting automatic-birthright citizenship to the children of illegal
aliens is a great incentive for illegal immigration. Citizen children qualify for welfare and other social services, thus
illegal parents receive benefits. This raises serious concerns about the use of public assistance by individuals illegally
present in the United States. According to a 1997 General Accounting Office report, in FY95 about $1.1 billion in
Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) and Food Stamp benefits were provided to households with an
illegal alien parent for the use of his or her citizen child. There can be no mistake that the citizenship grant has
significantly contributed to our unprecedented levels of illegal immigration. According to some figures, an estimated
165,000 children are born to illegal aliens in the U.S. annually.
Mr. Speaker, I believe that those individuals who actively defy the laws of the United States by illegal entry or
overstaying the terms of their entry should not have the cherished constitutional right to confer citizenship upon
their children. As Members of Congress, we have an obligation to ensure that our borders are protected and our
immigration laws are followed. Accordingly, I strongly urge my colleagues to cosponsor H.R. 190 to end this injustice.