At a press conference held today, Wednesday, January 5, coordinated to coincide with the first day of the new federal Congress, five Republican legislators presented two proposals that seek to deny citizenship to children of undocumented immigrants.
One measure proposes the creation of a new definition of state citizenship, in addition to national citizenship, that would exclude babies born in the state to two illegal immigrant parents.
The second measure is an agreement among the states to issue certificates that clearly show that the baby's parents cannot prove their legal status.
These state bills would also deny citizenship to newborn children of legal immigrants living in the United States on temporary visas.
Republican legislators from Arizona, South Carolina, Georgia, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania expressed their intention to introduce the bills in their legislatures.
During their presentation, these Republican legislators accused undocumented immigrants of having invaded the country, of coming for the express purpose of giving birth in the United States, and of being an economic burden on the country. They acknowledge that their initiative will surely be challenged as unconstitutional. But they indicated that they expect their efforts to culminate in the Supreme Court, which will have to rule on the proposal to amend the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
The 14th Amendment, adopted in 1868 by the U.S. Congress, provides that citizenship is granted by law to "all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof."
This initiative by Republican legislators would propose to establish two different classes of citizens and is unconstitutional.
It is ironic that these people who argue that the law should be enforced by deporting undocumented persons are the same ones who want to ignore the law - the law establishing citizenship for persons born in this country - as set forth in the U.S. Constitution.
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