They had permanent residency, so they had legal status.
I misread what Spakovsky said. Mea Cupla.
The focus of this argument, then, comes down to what the word ‘jurisdiction’ means in legal terms.
I fall clearly on the side that says if you can be arrested and tried by an agency, you are under the jurisdiction of that agency.
In the Medellin v. Texas case, the Federal Government sided with illegal immigrants who were on Death Row but were not given access to Mexican counsel during their trials. Ted Cruz appeared before the Supreme Court and argued that Texas, and not Mexico, had jurisdiction over the illegals because they had committed the crimes in Texas.
The Supreme Court upheld the State of Texas.
It’s in cases like that where I find the understanding that an illegal alien in the United States still is under the jurisdiction of the United States.
Again, it will take a amendment to the Constitution to fix this problem. All it has to be is a simple statement like -
“In addition to other criteria, the mother of a child must be a legal permanent resident of the United States in order for a child born here to become a citizen by birth.”