U.S. States Again Take Aim at “Birthright Citizenship”

Today the Washington Post reported that state representatives from across the country are joining ranks to support legislation that would deny U.S. Citizenship to children born in the U.S. whose parents are undocumented.

This effort is aimed at the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment, which currently grants citizenship to all children born within the United States. The proposal would challenge the current interpretation of the 14th Amendment, and would require that all children born in the U.S. have at least one parent who is a permanent resident or citizen to qualify for U.S. citizenship. The strategy is reported to be explicitly designed to draw legal challenges, and the proponents are hoping that it will force the Supreme Court to ultimately and explicitly decide on the application of the 14th Amendment. Proponents of the new strategy said they would revive the concept of “state citizenship” and would then draw a distinction between children born to parents with and without status. The states would issue a different birth certificate to children of permanent residents and U.S. citizens, versus the birth certificate issued to children born to undocumented immigrants, tourists, and foreign students.

Pennsylvania State Rep. Daryl Metcalfe (R) reported that he was planning to introduce legislation within weeks in Pennsylvania, and that legislators in about 40 states had expressed support, including Virginia, Arizona, Nebraska, Alabama, Delaware, Idaho, Indiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah.

The Washington Post further reported that opponents of the proposal are calling the challenge racially motivated, and directed at Latino persons. They cite past challenges to the 14th Amendment, raised in the context of challenging the legitimacy of African American, Chinese American and Japanese American citizenship. Further, many of the opponents cite Supreme Court rulings over the past hundred years that uphold the current interpretation of the 14th Amendment: that every child born in this country is an American.

To read the full article, visit: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/05/AR2011010503134.html?hpid=topnews

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