(PHOENIX) — Republican lawmakers in 15 states Tuesday announced a nationwide effort to change the way the 14th Amendment is interpreted and stop granting citizenship to babies born in the USA to illegal immigrants.
State legislators don’t have the authority to reinterpret the constitution.
The 14th amendment was passed following the Civil War. It overruled the Supreme Court’s Dred Scott decision that slaves and their decedents could not become citizens of the United States.
Section one begins, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”
Later in United States v. Wong Kim Ark the Supreme Court provided the 14th amendment the interpretation we know today. It gives citizenship to anyone born in the United States to parents who are foreign citizens not employed in an official or diplomatic capacity.
It is very unlikely that the Supreme Court will overturn precedent in this case. Reinterpretation of the 14th amendment is a dead end. But that does not preclude another constitutional amendment redefining the right to citizenship.
The arguments on the right are filled with misinformation and outright lies. For example the term “anchor babies” is a complete fantasy. Having a child who is a US citizen does not provide any assistance to an illegal immigrant trying to stay in the country as tens of thousands of people have discovered the hard way. However, that does not mean the nation should not have a rational conversation on the subject.
Jus soli (right of the soil) is not the only way nations define who is eligible for citizenship. In fact The United States is among a small minority of nations using Jus soli. Other nations instead use Jus sunguinis (right of blood) or some combination of the two. Maybe it is time to redefine eligibility for citizenship. And while we are at it perhaps we should create a mechanism to revoke citizenship even from those born in the U.S. where both parents are citizens. Know anyone you would like to throw out? My list could go on and on…
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