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Posted on 03/02/2005 9:38:45 AM PST by Happy2BMe
Bill would deny U.S. citizenship to children of illegal immigrants
A bill recently introduced in Congress would deny U.S. citizenship to children born to illegal immigrants. Supporters said the bill, called the Citizenship Reform Act of 2005, would be a good way to control the number of people who have the right to claim citizenship ---- and the rights and benefits that come with it. Opponents said the measure was "extreme" and would be likely to face constitutional challenges.
An estimated 200,000 to 300,000 children are born to illegal immigrants in the United States each year, according to the Center for Immigration Studies, a policy and research group that advocates for stricter immigration controls.
The Federation for American Immigration Reform, a group that also supports stricter policies, estimated that California spends about $7.7 billion each year to educate about 1 million children of illegal immigrants.
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"Citizenship means you have some stake in this country; it's not just an accident of geography," said Ira Mehlman, a spokesman of the federation, which supports the measure.
However, immigrant-rights groups say that citizenship is a fundamental right that cannot be taken away by Congress.
"Citizenship belongs to a person wherever they are born," said Katherine Cullion, an attorney with the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund, a Latino rights group. "The most basic, fundamental right is the right to citizenship in the country where you were born."
Advocates for and against the measure, which has surfaced in various forms before, said the bill is unlikely to go far in Congress. The bill is now in the House Judiciary Committee. No hearing on the bill has been scheduled.
"This is really a perennial bill; it comes up each spring," said Angela Kelley, deputy director of the National Immigration Forum, an immigrant-rights advocacy group based in Washington, D.C. "It gets a handful of co-sponsors and never sees the light of day."
If enacted, the bill would stipulate that children born in the United States would be considered American citizens only if born to parents who are citizens or legal residents living in the country. Under current law, any children born in the country can claim American citizenship.
The bill was introduced last month by Georgia Republican Rep. Nathan Deal and was co-sponsored by 16 other representatives, including Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Huntington Beach; Rep. Gary Miller, R-Diamond Bar; and Tom Tancredo, R-Colorado.
Anti-illegal immigrant groups, such as the Federation for American Immigration Reform, say immigration, legal and illegal, is largely responsible for a population explosion that could lead to unprecedented social, economic and environmental problems.
"Massive population growth has and will continue to have a profound impact on the lives of all Americans," said Dan Stein, president of the federation. The group released a study this week that indicated more than half of the nation's population growth over the last 35 years is due to immigration.
However, Steven Camarota, the Center for Immigration Studies' director of research, said the citizenship bill itself will not solve the nation's illegal immigration problem. Without immigration enforcement elsewhere, such as at the border and at work sites, denying citizenship to the children of illegal immigrants would only make the number of illegal immigrants grow.
"By itself, it doesn't move the ball forward very much, if at all," Camarota said.
About damn time!!!
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A bill recently introduced in Congress would deny U.S. citizenship to children born to illegal immigrants.
Supporters said the bill, called the Citizenship Reform Act of 2005, would be a good way to control the number of people who have the right to claim citizenship ---- and the rights and benefits that come with it.
Opponents said the measure was "extreme" and would be likely to face constitutional challenges.
The bad news is SCOTUS will shoot it down if it passes.
Wow! Wonder if it has a snowball's chance in ...
As well they should, because the 14th Amendment says that if you're born here, you're a citizen. Don't like it, amend the Constitution.
TSTB. And make it retroactive (right!).
I assume though, GOP legislators don't have the courage to overwhelm their anti-American Democratic counterparts' votes.
Yes, Yes and YES!!!
Yep, I hate to say it, but such a law would be unconstitutional. They need to amend.
OK.
This is a start and let's go throught the steps.
I would rather go for the Constitutional amendment directly and be done with it.
This is not our great-great-great... grandfathers world. Most, if not all, of the implicit, taken for granted common knowlege, on which the founders based their language has been turned on its head, so we might as well admit the necessity.
I read an article about New Jersey illegals that had been caught and had to leave with their 11 yr old daughter, even though the daughter was born here. I was under the assumption that that law was repealed in '93-'94.
Since the status quo is untenable I guess the only alternative is to just deny pregnant illegals the free prenatal care they get now & instead dump them on their side of the border when they're ready to deliver.
Unless Ms Cullion is implying that unrestricted access to US taxpayer money is also a "basic, fundamental right".
It would be hard for the Supreme Court to do that as Congress is given sole authority in the Constitution to set rules for citizenship.
It should be be constitutional for the same reason that the death penalty for those under 18 is unconstitutional, international opinion. The US is the only country in the world to confer citizenship upon birth within its borders. The other countries of the world only recognize the citizenship of the parent(s). What's good for the goose, Justice Kennedy, is good for the gander.
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"As well they should, because the 14th Amendment says that if you're born here, you're a citizen. Don't like it, amend the Constitution."
Exactly. We can't pick and choose which parts of the Constitution we want enforced. The that part of the 14th Amendment is plain as day and not open to the slightest interpretation:
"All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States "
How do we get it passed!
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