The corruption is so rife with this that the PC gestapo will have to pull out all the stops to maintain the status quo.
I agree I'm being cynical, but does citizenship matter any more? Half of us (them) wont use the word "Illegal". They get free healthcare at the hospitals, valid driver's licenses in some states, in-state tuition (some states), unchecked fraud to collect welfare services, buildings where they can wait in comfort for their day job, free education for their kids, etc.
Changing the label on a baby from legal to illegal wont change any of these freebies.
That's right. It's a racist thing to say. /sarcasm
What they are really after is that all-important hyphen which provides all sorts of benefits.
Border control or IMPEACHMENT; nuff said.
When are we going to put a stop to this nonsense??
Actually, once the child is born and considered an American citizen, the parents will file to become legal immigrants themselves since they are now guardians of a citizen. In the meantime, the INS will not deport them as it would harm "an American citizen". Quite the scam!
NEW YORK – A proposal to change long-standing federal policy and deny citizenship to babies born to illegal immigrants on U.S. soil ran aground this month in Congress, but it is sure to resurface – rekindling bitter debate even if it fails to become law.
At issue is "birthright citizenship" – provided for since the Constitution's 14th Amendment was ratified in 1868.
Section 1 of that amendment, drafted with freed slaves in mind, says: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States."
Some conservatives in Congress, as well as advocacy groups seeking to crack down on illegal immigration, say the amendment has been misapplied over the years, that it was never intended to grant citizenship automatically to babies of illegal immigrants. Thus, they say, federal legislation, rather than a difficult-to-achieve constitutional amendment, would be sufficient to end birthright citizenship.
With more than 70 co-sponsors, U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal, R-Ga., tried to include a revocation of birthright citizenship in an immigration bill passed by the House in mid-December. GOP House leaders did not let the proposal come to a vote.
"Most Americans feel it doesn't make any sense for people to come into the country illegally, give birth and have a new U.S. citizen," said Ira Mehlman of the Federation of American Immigration Reform, which backs Mr. Deal's proposal.
"But the advocates for illegal immigrants will make a fuss; they'll claim you're punishing the children, and I suspect the leadership doesn't want to deal with that."
Mr. Deal has said he will continue pushing the issue, describing birthright citizenship as "a huge magnet" attracting illegal immigrants. He cited estimates – challenged by immigrant advocates – that roughly 10 percent of births in the United States, or close to 400,000 a year, are babies born to illegal immigrants.
"It's an issue that we are very concerned about," said Michele Waslin, director of immigration policy research for the National Council of La Raza, a Hispanic advocacy organization that opposes any effort to revoke birthright citizenship.
"This was always seen in the past as some extreme, wacko proposal that never goes anywhere," she said. "But these so-called wacko proposals are becoming more and more mainstream – it's becoming more acceptable to have a discussion about it."
Alvaro Huerta of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles said his organization opposes Mr. Deal's proposal and is girding for a battle for public opinion.
"This is red meat for conservatives," he said. "They throw out these issues they know aren't winning issues, and they create an environment of anti-immigrant sentiment. We need to do a better job of educating people why it's wrong."
According to a survey last month by Rasmussen Reports, a nonpartisan public opinion research firm, 49 percent of Americans favor ending birthright citizenship, and 41 percent favor keeping it. The margin of error was plus or minus 4 percentage points.
U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., a leading proponent of tougher measures to stop illegal immigration, believes public opinion could shift further in favor of Mr. Deal's measure.
"Any issue that has a 'damn right' response, you can go with," Mr. Tancredo said. "You ask if we should stop illegal immigrants from coming onto this country and having a baby here who is an American citizen, and most people say, 'Damn right.' "
However, Mr. Tancredo acknowledged that Mr. Deal's measure faces major obstacles. Though he believes the House GOP leadership will eventually allow the proposal to come to a vote, Mr. Tancredo said it could flounder in the Senate or draw a veto from President Bush, who has sought a more centrist course on some immigration issues.
The best strategy, Mr. Tancredo suggested, might be to avoid presenting the measure as a separate, stand-alone bill and instead add it to a broader piece of legislation that the Senate could not disregard.
Mr. Tancredo, Mr. Deal and others have noted that the U.S. is among the relatively few wealthy nations that allow birthright citizenship.
However, Lucas Guttentag, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Immigrants' Rights Project, said some Western European nations with different policies have suffered problems.
"Look at Germany – the children of guest workers are not citizens," he said. "That creates enormous social and racial tensions. That's the opposite of where we want to go."
Mr. Guttentag also said the federal courts would probably strike down any measure that challenged the 14th Amendment's citizenship guarantees.
"It's a far-fetched, fundamentally misguided and unconstitutional proposal," he said. "It's not the kind of proposal that gets taken seriously by those who actually want to grapple with immigration issues."
Some critics of existing policy refer to U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants as "anchor babies" because – when they reach adulthood – they can sponsor their parents for legal permanent residency. Immigrants-rights groups say the number of such cases is smaller than critics allege, but authoritative statistics are scarce.
At first glance I thought you were posting an alien baby story from the Star or one of the other grocery store mags. Nevermind.
"Ireland was experiencing the same abuse of their immigration laws as the U.S. so they did something about it. In January 2003 the Irish Supreme Court ruled in a landmark decision that immigrant parents of an Irish born child could be deported. It was the first reversal of Ireland's liberal policy of granting residency and possibly citizenship to anyone who had a baby in Ireland, including illegal aliens.
In June 2004 the Irish people took action: they voted birth right citizenship out of existence. The 27th amendment bill of the Irish Constitution now reads:
"Notwithstanding any other provision, a person born on the island of Ireland who does not have at the time of birth of that person at least one parent who is an Irish citizen or entitled to be an Irish citizen, is not entitled to Irish citizenship or nationality unless provided by law."
If America followed Ireland's lead and ended birth right citizenship, we would be removing a huge incentive that lures illegal aliens to our country."
sw
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He knew he would see little, if any, money for this delivery. This complaint from a man who would forgive any payment, or take rabbits, etc., or other type of barter for pay.
It's going to take a few more terrorist attacks on WASHINGTON DC and a lot more American deaths to get the Congress to enforce borders and refuse citizenship to illegal babies.
The language of the 14th seems plain enough.